Galaxia's Wars
by Geothermal
Summary: The histories of Galaxies are marked by the rise and fall of empires and alliances after thousands of years of existing. However, there are many that continue to exist in spite of many attempts to prevent it. They are the ancients, the faithful, those with determination, and above all, those who can endure time. Welcome to a galaxy of war and darkness.
1. Chapter I

**Author's Notes: _Hello readers and denizens of FanFiction!_**

**_I would like to say that this is my very first story that I've written. This fiction is a fusion of both the Warhammer 40k and Halo universes together into one universe that is vastly connected with others. Because I am new to this, do not expect me to have the writing skills of an expert or that everything is perfect down to the vowels. There are going to be moments where I make mistakes that I might fail to notice so bear with me._**

**_This story is heavily inspired by Evident Disaster's UCAF stories and The Hammer and the Rings by AzureSpider. Along with erttheking's stories like From the Ashes and Mass Effect New Origins. Love them all and highly recommend to read them if you have not! Elements from other works will also be drawn from to add the content. _**

**_This is rated M for reasons ranging from blood and gore to sex scenes (and questionable ones) and pretty disturbing details. So if you are not old enough or have the maturity to handle such things or you're weak of stomach and that sort, do NOT read this story because I will not be held responsible for your fate. There will be scenes or ideas any of you may find offensive or against your morals because this is the bleak future, so anything is possible. So deal with it like an adult. _**

**_I will say this now and not every time, Halo belongs to 343 Industries and Warhammer 40k belongs to Game Workshop. Everything else that doesn't belong to two groups is of my own creation._**

**Remastered Chapter**

* * *

**Prologue**

_Long before the birth of Creation and its beginnings, there was only the void. A limitless body of emptiness with no boundaries, no shape and no geometry of form. The void was everything that moved and did not move, the analogy and the infinite. But it was not alone as thin streams of a molecular matter floated in its empty holdings without a purpose or goal. They would every so often meet together and connect but otherwise fail to remain attached before separating. Time was meaningless as it carried no form or path, thus progress was undefined. _

_But in an uncertain moment, a molecule connected with another suddenly in a twist of fate succeeded to accomplish what others have failed: the attachment survived. _

_And so the pair continued to move through the empty void, constantly collecting more and more molecules as they grew in size and energy into a singularity. Before long, a small light would radiate in the blackness of its surroundings as it continued its work and became hotter. Larger did it grow and hotter did it become as the energy buried beneath its surface grew to levels that should not exist in the cold unforgiving space of the void, yet it did. The singularity grew until its boundaries of its body could no longer contain the vast power laid in its core. _

_As cracks broke through the surface, the light of the object brightened until it could pierce the thick curtain that surrounded it. As the final crack reached its zenith, the singularity was broken. _

_A dawning nova of light the likes that have ever appeared in the void radiated from its center as an inconceivable explosion shook the fabric of existence down to its very roots. _

_Creation had begun and with it, the Cosmos were born from the void. _

_With no resistance, the expanding energy spread across the void as the heat rose to unimaginable levels and began shaping everything in its grasp into matter. Like a powerful storm, matter was thrown everywhere as they collided with each other and took shape. Interaction was born as atoms were created and their cores required to be held together with great power; the electromagnetic forces were shaped into existence as energy transformed into loose particles charged with crackling light; gravity was born in the unending pressure of mass as they merged together into solid bodies; and finally came the decaying form of the weak force in the wake of energy released in the background._

_Through the influence and guidance of the Four Fundamentals, matter took shape and began creating until finally, the first Primus universe was born. The Primus was the first of its kind and the only to exist in the void. Under its watch, matter was gathered in its domain as it began shaping them to form new creations never before seen. With its power, powerful barriers were formed to prevent any from escaping its boundaries and Cosmic Laws were configured to govern all that lie in its influence regardless of what it is. Time was reforged into an ever-changing phenomenon of the past, present and future through defining motions of space. _

_Then the matter was formed from the surroundings as the principals of the universe molded them into new celestial structures. At first, only swirls of matter scattered as dust were successfully created before the eons passed and the first cosmic Forges of Celestials, the nebulae were finally born. In the heart of each of these cosmic clouds, massive foundries of unprecedented size toiled away as irregularities cause these fiery forges to draw in selected components in large quantities and hammer them together under mighty pressure. Ages would pass as the Forges worked tirelessly molding the burning gas clouds as the heat around the space increased to incredible levels and the components began compressing and collapsing into unstable cores. Before long, the objects soon begin taking the form of stellar origin as the cores collapse in larger sizes until sparks of fusion erupt in the centers. It is there that the Forges started building shells for the growing cores to envelope their energies until they can finish their development. Time will pass as the shells cool down around the heating cores until the pressure soon becomes too much and the surface begins breaking. Before the process finishes, the evolving stellar objects are quickly released into the void until finally, the mounting pressure blows away the shell in a display of power and a celestial star is born._

_Gliding silently and lonely in the void, the stars lit their own paths as trajectories are charted and the remaining matter left in the wake of their birth is gathered around them into a disc of clouds. Eons pass swiftly as the stars experiment with the particles left at their disposal and begin molding them into shapes of their liking. What will first start as small meteorites would quickly shift to small massive asteroids until finally, planets. And once all that was completed, a solar system is born and the star is no longer alone in the void. _

_But the companionship does not end there, as the eons pass by, the stars would soon begin meeting with each other and forming groups together to share their power. Larger and larger did these unions become as more stars joined their ranks and lesser groups were absorbed until the numbers became endless. Thus, the first and final piece of creation, the galaxies of the Primus universe were finally formed. Then came the final component: life and soon it flourishes amongst the stars. _

_The Primus was now a fully fledged universe, the first of its kind._

_But Creation was never finished in the first place: like branches, tendrils of the Primus's essence grew from the heart of the universe and stretched far through the endless void. Sprouting from upper Primus like branches of a tree were lesser universes mimicking the original but instead detailing changes of a grand scale that could have happened but never came to pass. _

_Hanging from the bottom came the those who detail the changes of the smallest scale regardless of their significance, their numbers limitless as new ones continuously came in and others ceased to exist. But these were inferior to the original one, merely copies etched from the surface of the Primus over and over again without pause and purpose. Only representing what could and could not. _

_Then came the last ones, those that did not represent the changes of the Primus but were instead born of creativity and vision. Their existence linked to the heart of the universe as they were not of Primus but what lived in the universe._

_Eons passed as the Primus expanded larger and its creations growing in numbers as changes continued until something that would prove to be Creation's last gift to the Primus. _

_The first seeds of essence were released from the body of the Primus and glided far in the void away from their progenitor. Their journeys would continue until one by one they finally halt and settle down in a selected area. And there they collected the surrounding energy untouched by the first Primus and harnessed it until they exploded. _

_One by one, a new Primus was born in the void as their numbers rose from two, four, nine, and finally fifteen Primus universes. And like their progenitor, they too walked the same path as they grew. And as time passed, they flourished and bloomed._

_Alas, all things must eventually come to an end for nothing was eternal. _

_And so the first Primus died as its energy was spent._

_In an agonizing pace, the Primus's borders began constricting as the energy needed to sustain them was no longer available and to preserve them, the size was slowly cut away. Smaller the Primus became as it became harder to continue supporting the borders and the more crowded the universe was to everything inside. With space becoming smaller, a collision between molecules rose to higher frequencies until the heat was being generated. And larger the heat grew and hotter it became until it was soon coming to levels unbearable for anything._

_Then it collapsed._

_Unable to sustain itself, the heart of the Primus and its barriers collapsed in a spectacular visage. All the heat held in such compressed pressure released at once and the Primus was destroyed. The lesser universes connected to the original followed behind, their existence coming to an end without the pillar that kept them supported for all this time. _

_The First Primus was gone and its only legacy was the Primus's it sired and the monolithic nebula left in the wake of its death. _

_And time continued as each Primus followed in the path of its progenitor as they seeded new universes and collapsed once their energy was spent. Eons passed rapidly as the cycle continued with a hint of ending, Primus's would come and go, never stopping or slow down. Only keeping a steady pace. _

_Then came the birth of one-eleven Primus from its progenitor of eighty-five Primus. And like all others, went through the same process of forging its future until it finally succeeded. And in the field of universes born from creativity and vision, a rare spark broke between two as they passed one another. In that moment, a new universe was born._

_A hybrid universe, one containing the properties of two progenitors and influenced by its Primus was formed in elements that were not of its own but at the same time was and was finally finished. _

_And that is where it all begins and ends._

* * *

**Pre-40.000.000 B****.C.E:** Data regarding on the details of the War on Heaven is greatly limited. Little information that have survived from that age is available for investigation or has been found to be too corrupted to be used.

**20.000.000 B.C.E:** A mysterious races known by many as the Precursors arrive in the galaxy through unknown means of transportation from their home and settle down. Unfortunately for researchers, small amount of data regarding this time period is in either fragments or nonexistent.

**18.000.000 B.C.E:** The Precursor's spanning empire comes in conflict with the Eldar Empire; it still remains unknown as to what had occurred to instigate hostility between both factions. It is suspected by many researchers that the Eldars viewed them as a foreign threat that needed to be eliminated, thus war erupted with both sides.

**5.0****00.000 B.C.E:** The Precursors begin the process of bio-accelerating evolution with selected sentient species in search of a local 'inheritors' to watch over the galaxy (due to data suggesting that the Eldar were bio-engineered by the Old Ones, the Precursors didn't consider them as actual species). The Precursor's population was showing signs of declining and weakening from the warp effects and the war with the Eldars proving costly.

**2.780.000 B.C.E:** The Forerunner race is the first to be bio-accelerated by the Precursors. Their trail begins.

**1.505.000 B.C.E:** The Human race and others are soon bio-accelerated by the Precursors. Their trail begins.

**630.000 B.C.E:** The Forerunners have been deemed a failure because of their little resistance to the warp's effects and plans to dispose them begin. The Precursors begin putting their focus on Humanity and other races that seemed to have a better chance of succeeding the trials and surviving the Ruinous Powers.

**629.800 B.C.E:** Having foreseen this action beforehand, in a final attempt to destroy the Precursors once and for all, the Eldars secretly tell the Forerunners of their creator's plans for them in hopes of spurring them to wage war and offer an alliance between them.

**628.000 B.C.E:** Humanity and few other species have been deemed successful at resisting the warp and harnessing it with humans showing better promises than others. The Precursors decide to name humanity and several other species successors of the Mantle.

**620.000 B.C.E:** In a surprise attack, The Forerunners lashed out to their creators swiftly and without remorse that resulted in countless Precursors lives lost. Then the Eldars came out of their borders to strike at unsuspecting Precursor military forces and claim former Precursor worlds for themselves while the Precursor's forces were trying to organize themselves in the confusion.

**609.500 B.C.E:** Only few Precursors remain after the attacks. In a last desperate gamble, they turn to the one of Chaos Gods of the Ruinous Powers, Nurgle to save them from destruction. Nurgle agrees with their pleas but asks for their loyalty in return. The Precursors agree to the condition and start transforming.

**600.000 B.C.E:** The remaining transformed Precursors retreat from the galaxy to one of the satellite galaxies orbiting ours, vowing to return and extract vengeance. The Forerunners and Eldars, believing the Precursors to be dead for good, begin consoling their power throughout the galaxy. Humanity and other species (they had seen the Precursors as fatherly mentors) are outraged by this action and begin to make plans to avenge the Precursors. They form an alliance dubbed the 'Inheritors of the Mantle'.

**530.000 B.C.E:** The IM begins launching their attacks throughout Forerunner and Eldar space. Many planets are laid to waste by the IM in the first moments of the war.

**527.750 B.C.E:** Both Forerunners and Eldars start organizing their defenses and send counter-attacks against the IM. The war so far is in stalemate.

**456.290 B.C.E:** The tide of the war turns in the favor of the Forerunners/Eldar forces. The Eldars had released warp storms into IM regions, thus creating massive damage and losses. That results with entire species being consumed by daemons in the warp because of the strength of their connection to the Immaterium. The IM forces are soon being forced to retreat. The use of the Webway of the mysterious Old Ones gives the Eldar a large advantage over their opponents.

**430.000 B.C.E:** The Inheritors of the Mantle begins to break down as the war goes badly for them. Some species start to drop out and disappear from existence:

**+429.850:** the San 'Shyuum retreat to their homeworld, all contact is lost to them shortly.

**+428.530:** a member referred as the 'Leviathans' evacuate their remaining worlds and retreat to the 'unknown regions' on the other side of the galaxy.

**350.000 B.C.E:** The alliance is defeated.

**330.000 B.C.E:** All remaining members that hadn't gone into hiding or weren't outright destroyed are stripped of their empires, technology and exiled to their home worlds.

**295.000 B.C.E:** The alliance is fully disbanded and their surviving members punished. Peace and order is brought back into the galaxy.

**103.000 B.C.E:** The Forerunners and Eldars have enjoyed the peace in the galaxy for mega-annums. Unknown to everyone, the transformed Precursors, now calling themselves the 'Flood', begin mobilizing themselves to war.

**102.200 B.C.E:** Contact with several frontier worlds is lost. They are however, written off as technical errors and only send technicians to fix it. However, those teams fail to report in.

**102.000 B.C.E:** Without warning, hundreds of worlds are attacked by an unknown race and consumed. The Forerunner and Eldar forces are in disarray and in the process of being destroyed. They soon learn that the unknown race calls itself the 'Flood'.

**101.900 B.C.E:** While analyzing dead flood forms, scientists are shock that the Flood is in fact, the previously thought dead Precursors and have been mutated beyond recognition and gifted by Nurgle of the Ruinous Powers.

**101.700 B.C.E:** The Flood continues to invade Forerunner/Eldar space (with the Forerunners taking the brunt of the force) and consume countless worlds.

**101.300 B.C.E:** The Eldars retreat into the Webway to survive the onslaught of the Flood, thus leaving the Forerunners to fight alone. They start to become desperate on winning the war.

**101.270 B.C.E:** The Forerunners construct massive shield worlds and ring-like fortresses in hopes of inhabiting them to survive like the Eldar did with the Webway. The Flood however quickly found out and struck and cut off the Forerunner's ancient core worlds from the rest of the galaxy to denied them that chance. All Forerunners throughout the galaxy with the exception of those in the core worlds are consumed.

**101.180 B.C.E:** With preparations done, the Flood launches an all out invasion on the last remaining Forerunner worlds with all their remaining units. The core world falls one by one until only the original homeworld is left standing.

**101.021 B.C.E:** Gathering every single unit the Flood has at its disposal, they launch their final attack on the homeworld of the Forerunners and its remaining population.

**101.010 B.C.E:** In the last act of defiance, the Forerunners detonate their star into a hypernova (it's when a supermassive star explodes in force that makes supernovas of giant stars look pathetic). Thus killing the last remaining Forerunners and wipes out the Flood with it (with a smile on their faces). The consequence of this action, however, results in the birth of a massive black hole that consumes any 'unlucky survivors' that managed to survive the blast and the remains of the homeworld. Thus, the Age of the Forerunners is over, with their proud home system now the resting place of a massive black hole that will be forever known by other races as the 'Eternal Black Gate of Death'.

**100.000 B.C.E:** The galaxy is once again silent from the end of the war. Without being restricted by the Forerunners and Eldars, many races once again begin to ascend in technology and culture once again.

**98.000 B.C.E:** The Eldar race leaves the confines of the Webway to find the galaxy different than before. They quickly go forth to reclaim lost planets of theirs and rebuilt their shattered empire while keeping an eye on the other races.

**0.961.M2:** Humanity launches its first man in space in over two hundred thousand years.

**6.2000.M13:** The Eldar Empire has gone through a golden age for over one hundred thousand years. Unknown to themselves, their very own enjoyment/pleasure seem to be causing something in the Immaterium but many choose to ignore it. Races like humanity have once again expanded far into the stars and formed their own empires.

**6.000.M18:** Warnings begin to appear to the Eldar about the disturbance occurring in the warp but many are too caught up in their enjoyment of pleasure to take any notice. Those who do, fearing for the safety of their race, begin leaving the empire to form Maiden worlds or build massive craftworlds to ferry their people.

**6.000.M21:** By the time the first waves of craftworlds have left the empire, the event known as the Fall occurs. In the Immaterium, the warp churns for a final time before it explodes in a psychic scream that is felt in both the Immaterium and the Materium, signifying the birth of another Chaos God: the Prince of Pleasure, Slaneesh and the creation of the Eye of Terror.

**6.000.M21-6.000.M25:** The result of the scream creates warp storms of large magnitudes that devastate the galaxy. Killed by their very own hands, Slaneesh consumes (along with most of their gods) the mighty Eldar Empire and most of the race. The other races weren't spared from this destruction; each one lost their empires and their power until they were nothing more than a shadow of their former selves. A massive rift between the Immaterium and Materium consumes the Crone worlds and forms the dreaded warp storm known as the Eye of Terror.

**0.000.M25:** The Humanity's own empire is in ruins; only the Sol System remains of their once mighty power. Society falls into disarray and later, civil war.

**0.000.M25-0.500.M33:** The civil war tears the society apart until Terra is the only bastion of Human life left in the system (the warp storms played a part in the mess).

**0.500.M33:** During the civil war, there have been many leaders who tried to reunite their race together but have always failed without proper support of the people. However, hope it seems appears to be waiting in the future for the Human race.

**0.200.M33:** Soon, rumors of a mighty leader began to appear around the world. A leader, many said, that is in the process of uniting countries and groups together under one banner referred as the Imperium of Humanity and is referred as the God-Emperor. While there were a few cases where he needed to fight to convince people to join him, most of the time he used skilled diplomacy to convince others to join his cause peacefully. The Imperial Truth is instituted.

**0.050.M33:** Finally, the God-Emperor had united the human race on Terra into a single nation as he always hoped for. With that, he begins the arduous process of restoring Humanity's power once again, determined to never let it fall again while he breaths.

**0.050.M33-0.001.M34:** The God-Emperor, along with his people, begins the process of repairing their nation and homeworld.

**0.001-0.050.M34:** The Imperium of Humanity is formed and begins recolonizing the Sol System and repair many of the ancient cities on Mars, Luna (the moon), Venus, and the Jovian moons (Jupiter's moons).

**1.050.M34:** The Sol System is soon returned to its pre-fall status. Human expansion temporarily stops for the moment (the warp storms still continued). The Emperor has scientists work on a new FTL-drive and other technologies to better face the dangers in the galaxy. He and many others were fully aware of just what was waiting for them on the other side of the warp storm surrounding their home system.

**0.050-0.100.M34:** After many years of research, scientists present to the Imperium their greatest discovery: a new FTL system called Slipspace that is separate to the warp. The technology is quickly mass-produced and implanted into any existing ships.

**1.150.M34:** After over 10,150 years trapped in their own star system, the warp storms finally begin to clear up and allow for clear traveling (it was unknown if slipspace could travel through a warp storm safely). It is soon discovered that particular human pyskers with special genes are able to perceive the warp and with slipspace in use (slipspace works on similar principles like the Immaterium, just far less chaotic and safer), it's an easy task for them to guide ships. These set of humans are referred as Navigators and they are soon given the position of guiding ships through slipspace.

**3.150.M34-3.000.M35:** The Imperium of Humanity begins to expand onto other star systems. The Imperial military, the Mechanicus, and other organizations are created along with the government. Most worlds the humans colonize contain ancient Human cities while some had alien structures that are added to the living layout. During the travels, certain pyskers tasked by the Emperor himself set up psionic shields throughout newly colonized space to ward off the influences of the warp, which proves successful. The Imperium begins to enjoy an age of discovery, exploring, and inventions. The Imperium size is roughly 4 Segmentums. However, in the two hundred and eighty-fifth century of the thirty-fourth millennia, the Imperium comes in contact with a race known as the Orks. Minor conflicts erupt against each other (the Imperium doesn't consider the orks a 'civilized race'). The conflicts, fortunately, don't threaten peace.

**3.100.M35:** The peace held in the Imperium starts to degrade over time by increasing ork WAAAAGGHHs and with groups/organizations of people demanding that the government either gives them full rights and self-governing like in the old-Earth nations; to keep Humanity "pure" by eliminating pyskers and outlawing augment implants; step down as they were corrupt; or other demands depending on the ideology of these people. These ideas were swiftly shot down by the Council of High Lords and the Emperor himself, as they are fully aware of how weak the Imperium of Humanity would become if such decisions or ideas were to be implemented in the Imperium.

**4.200.M35:** The protests from these group identified collectively as the Insurrectionists (even though many do not share the same goals but still work together) began with peaceful rallies but soon degraded to violence with most groups as they realized their original methods were not working. The breaking point came when rebels from the Vordian Oculus group made a daring attempted to overthrow the government on Hive world Krieg in a bloody revolution that resulted in parts of the planet reduced to radiation wastelands with billions of deaths and several hive cities destroyed. This action set off the spark for rebellions across Imperial space to break out. Martial law is declared in many worlds as the Imperium orders the arbiters and PDF forces to mobilize to restore order and put down the rebels.

**2.322.M35:** The situation with the Insurrectionists were looking grim for the government as reports piled in detailing small improvement with the rebels. For every cell they found and destroyed, another five would pop out of nowhere to continue the fight. It was at this moment, that a group of veteran Imperial Marines petitioned to High Command of the Imperial Military and the government of forming elite special forces of shock troopers trained for fast tactical attacks directly in enemy lines. Knowing that anything that could help destroy the rebels faster would be great, the idea was quickly approved and preparations were made.

**2.397.M35:** The newly created Special Forces branch of the Imperial Ground Forces is made with their main force: the Helldiver Shock Troopers. The new HDSTs are quickly deployed to the lines to combat against the rebels.

**0.397.M35:** With the introduction of the HDSTs, the destruction of the rebels steadily becomes a reality as entire groups are driven to extinction and others surrendering, but still many continue to fight. The Imperium becomes increasingly frustrated with putting down the rebels and began searching for new alternatives. The search continued until a brilliant scientist by the name of Dr. Catherine Halsey presents the idea of training super-soldiers with the best augments and armor the Imperium has to offer to better eliminate the rebels and at the same time guard against outside threats. In her report she explains that they could use the augments of the most advanced human genetics including those of the Emperor's own. Her project is given green light and work begins without pause.

**0.411.M35:** Deep within the keeps of the fabled Imperial Palace on the Himalayan Mountains, the Emperor, Dr. Halsey and other scientists succeed in birthing 21 young from natural fetuses donated from carefully selected women and biologically descended from the Emperor, the babies were classified as Project:_ Primarch_, to become mankind's greatest people and the future of human evolution. Then came the question to the group on how to best raise them seeing as they were technically the Emperor's own sons (as the Emperor had admitted he feared he would be a terrible father and his responsibilities would greatly interfere). It is then decided to give them to the most prominent families in the Imperium to raise them with the heart of a human and with a diverse background.

**2.412.M35:** The young Primarchs are given to qualified families coming from different backgrounds that were selected for the environments they come from with each requested to raise them to the best of their ability of what it means to be truly human. During that time until they come to age, the Emperor spent his time when not handling his responsibilities to visit all of his children and have quality with them.

**2.435.M35:** After numerous years have passed by, the Emperor and his legendary Companion Guards, go forth around the Imperium of Humanity to reunite his children together after having all of them growing up and learning separately.

**2.438.M35:** After uniting all 21 of his children, he tells them of their origins, importance and how their genetics are crucial to the future of the Imperium and their people. He explains that they would each given a legion of super-soldiers to shape in their desire for the future of mankind and to serve as the Imperium's wrath and uphold peace and justice. They all agreed with pride and proudness of a son to his father.

**2.452.M35:** The first members of the 20 newly formed legions have already finished training and are assigned alongside their designated Primarchs.

**2.488.M35:** The first sanctioned Spartan Astartes along with their Primarchs are sent out to destroy the strongest rebel cells still remaining.

**2.512.M35:** The superior abilities of the Spartans have resulted in the near-eradication of most rebel groups with many of the survivors fleeing to frontier worlds to avoid death or going underground to avoid conflict. The program is considered a major success and plans to increase their numbers are approved.

**2.512.M35-524.M35:** The Imperium rebuilds the damages caused by the conflicts between the rebels and Imperial forces.

**3.535.M35:** With the backbone of the Insurrectionists crushed and the survivors scattered, the Imperium begins to focus on foreign problems (like the orks) and continues with the colonization/expansion. With the increasing number and strength of the military, the Imperium is soon able to repulse many ork WAAAAGGHHs before they can cause potential damage.

**2.525.M35-524.M36:** The Imperium of Man begins to slow down on expansion to avoid extending their borders to far and instead focus their attention on improving existing colonies.

**6.524.M36:** Agents of the Officio Agente, Sectium Xenos increasingly become worried about running into the borders of another alien empire and causing conflict that the Imperium may not need. Several members however carry suspicion of the existence of xeno empires due to their calculation regarding the large quantity of ruins found across Imperial space, many should have already been found by now. Especially concerning old pre-Imperial records detailing xeno species on worlds that would be found in their territory but seemingly no longer exist in all modern navigation records and "cannot be found" by Navigators. However, before they can write a report on it, Agri-world Harvest suddenly goes dark without warning.

**6.525.M36:** Contact with an alien empire called the Covenant of the Mantle occurs. They declare humanity 'unworthy' of the Precursor's gift (much to the confusion of the Imperium) and declare war for reasons unknown. The military and PDF forces are put on high alert and war preparations are set.

**6.528.M36:** After tensions were held, reports come in with news that Hive world Canis IV and Garden worlds Halima and Juldia are under attack by Covenant forces. After a quick meeting, the government unanimously declares a full war between the Imperium of Humanity and the Covenant of the Mantle.

* * *

_**And here is the beginning of the first arc of the Galaxia's Wars series. **__**This felt like a lifetime to write and think this through properly. But I finished it anyway.**_

_**Don't forget to post Reviews and Criticism since both would be very welcoming (but no flame, it is not welcomed here) If you have questions, PM me and I will answer. If you wish to know of future stories I'm planning on writing, check out my page. **_

_**I would soon be uploading the codex for the Imperium of Humanity and the Covenant of the Mantle.**_

_**Until next time folks! The Emperor Protects the loyal. **_

_**Omnia incipit cum uno gradu.**_


	2. Chapter II

**AN:_ I'm back guys! And I've got to say, I'm happy with the support you guys are giving me. Granted I know its not large like other stories in this site but better little than nothing at all. _**

**_I will be trying my best to follow the original story-line of both universes which is going to be a workout since both are pretty extensive and one is obviously complex to give headaches. So there will be events you guys are well familiar while other would be omitted due to the fact they virtually have no place regardless of their importance canon-wise and it would mean Gods knows how much more work to integrate them in this story. _**

**_So try to be understanding and not flip out when there are obvious changes that would otherwise effect greatly things. _**

_**Again I don't own Halo or Warhammer 40k, they belong to their respective owners.**_

_**I present to you guys Chapter 2! Enjoy!**_

_**P.S: This is an updated/improved chapter**_

* * *

**Battle of Corverus:**

_Though our tanks and artillery are mighty, it is the vast ranks of the Imperial Army that shall trample the enemy to dust-let them come._

_-Lord Castellan Ursarkar E. Creed_

* * *

[+Alert! Priority Beta-SF77 message to Segmentum Ultima Naval Command+]

[+Processing and Decryption of Message...+]

[+Process completed+]

[++/Opening message for the eyes of Naval Command member's only+]

[++/To the esteem members of Ultima Naval Command. This is Commodore Lydian Raider of Battle group Ontario reporting to Command. At 0815, naval forces of the Covenant of the Mantle forces successfully slipped past most of the warning outposts in the Holderus system and have ambushed my fleet. We have been forced to pull back over the surface of the planet alongside the PNDF facing continues attacks. Most of the orbital defenses have been tactically eliminated and the enemy is currently besieging Corverus. Our numbers are dwindling and it won't be long until my fleet can no longer hold the aerospace and be forced to pull back. I request for reinforces to lift the siege and drive off the invasion force+]

[+End of message+]

[+Processing answer of Naval Command to Admiral Raider+]

[+This is Segmentum Admiral of Sigurd Aagaard responding to your hail. Squadron Fleet Memphis has been authorized to provide critical support and reinforce your position with the II and IV Corps of the II Corverus Army along with the First Division of the Corverus Marines assist in combating the ground invasion. A detachment of Spartan Astartes hailing from the Aurora Chapter of the Ultraspartans Legion and the Mecha Legion Asterux have been assigned to the fleet for tactical support. You are hereby ordered to hold the line as long as possible until it becomes clear that you cannot continue the effort and are expected to pull back and await for the reinforcements. You have your orders Commodore. Ave Imperium+]

[+Encrypting and Sending.../...Message sent+]

* * *

**Core World Corverus**

**System Holderus**

**3.531.M36**

"FIRE THE NOVA CANNON!"

The bridge shook as the Oberon-Battlecruiser _Wraithful_ fired its main weapon at a Covenant of the Mantle CCS-Cruiser. The cruiser's shield flared up in blue as it tried to stop the round but ultimately was a futile attempt as the round punched through the shield and smashed into the prow of the ship and exploded. The resulting explosion obliterated the entire prow section of the ship, leaving behind a dead husk. It proceeded to drift along the battlefield along with many other wrecks of ships with more joining the ever-growing graveyard.

"Redirect the starboard macrocannons to cover the _Endless Shadow _and _Forever Faithful_. Those destroyers are tearing them apart!" Bellowed the voice of Commodore Lydian Raider across the bridge. The Commodore was a tall man with brown hair and slightly dark skin with a stature that conveyed authority. At over 273 years, he'd seen his share of battles and campaigns that turned him into a hardened leader. Now it seems that he would need to draw up all his skills if he hoped to win this battle.

"Yes sir!" Answered one of the naval personal at the controls. He proceeded to type commands in the screen.

"Turn the ship twenty degrees starboard for our torpedoes to destroy that CSO-Carrier before it can attempt to break through our lines," ordered Raider.

"Apologies, but most of the torpedo tubes are reloading and the ones ready will only damage its hull," informed Captain Delius Telco from his command chair. Like every captain in the Imperial Navy, Telco sat interred with his ship to better coordinate it with the machine spirit. Captaining this ship since it was commissioned over two-and-fifty hundred years ago, the captain and the ship make an excellent team when combating foes.

"How long then till they're done? I need them up and ready for fire," asked Raider.

The captained had the look of strain on his face. "In a few minutes or so. Depending if the enemy would slow their rate of fire at us."

The bridge suddenly shook as the ion shield blocked a trio of plasma torpedoes from hitting the ship.

"Sir!" Cried a personal. "Ion shield readings are at 52%. Enemy fire is coming in too much for the shields to charge quickly."

"Doesn't seem like the enemy would let us have that chance," retorted Raider. He turned to one of the communication officers. "What's the status of the fleet?"

The officer looked up from his monitor. "The readings indicate that the fleet is at 60% strength and steadily lowering. Many of the surviving ships are suffering heavy damages and report that they won't last much longer in battle. Last report said…" the officer seemed to hesitate.

"That what?" Inquired Raider.

"That one of our Avedon-Light Carriers is destroyed and other one is venting and won't last long much longer, sir," answered the officer.

Raider cursed under his breath. Every since the larger enemy fleet jumped in and struck his group with the element of surprise. He had lost quite a number of good ships and the fleet was starting to feel the pressure of those losses. Not to mention most of the defense stations were floating tombs or scrap. Unless the reinforces sent by High Command arrived in time, his forces would end up being overrun by the enemy and free to do with the planet his fleet was currently defending as they see fit. They couldn't retreat without condemning the world and they couldn't stay without risking annihilation.

The windows in the bridge quickly polarized as a Marathon-Cruiser's ammunition stores exploded after being torn apart by particle cannons from a CSV-Battlecruiser. The _Wraithful's_ lance batteries proceeded to fire on the enemy ship until it was forced to retreat from receiving heavy damage.

He was about to give an order to his fleet to try and form new battle lines when he heard a cry through the neural-link.

"_Alert! That Emperor-accursed CSO-carrier broke through our lines and is currently making planet fall. We can't close the gape fast enough and the other ships arAaaauggghhh!…" _

The link immediately went dead, signaling that the user was killed. Through the link's information, Raider saw that it was the captain of the Strike Cruiser _Storm Bringer_ that made the announcement and was shortly killed when his ship took a direct hit in its plasma reactor.

However, he was mostly focusing on the revelation that Covenant forces had succeeded on breaking through his lines and started planet fall. Fortunately for them, he had made the decision when they arrived here before to send down the fleet's ground forces on the planet where they were better off than on these crapped hulls.

But first, he needed to calm down the captains of the battle group before things got out of hand.

Closing his eyes and extending his neural-link into the fleet link, the effort and time would have been easier if he was a pysker but alas, he is one of the few 'untouched' humans left in the Imperial Navy. The chatter from the battle group was almost overwhelming the moment he entered.

"…_My ship needs backup…"_

"…_War Horn has been destroyed! We need…"_

"…_We're being outflanked on our…"_

"…_Where are our reinforcements? They…"_

"…_PDF Corverus Command reports enemy…"_

Gathering himself, Raider lets out a single shout. _**"Enough!"**_

The fleet link immediately fall silent as the shout from their commodore vibrated through their links. What went from a constant shout of news was quickly replaced with an eerie silence that was occasionally interrupted with a captain's death.

Taking a moment to compose himself, he began speaking. _"Yelling at each other like that will not get any of us anywhere and will certainly not win us this battle. Now before anything else can happen, I hereby order Battle Group Ontario and the PNDF ships to retreat to the northern pole of the planet."_

As he expected, he was met with a wall of protests with this order from most of the battle group along with the planet's PNDF being the most vocal about it. Steeling himself again, he shouted through the link, _**"Silence!"**_

The link once again became silent from his commanding voice.

"_I understand that many of you don't want to leave most of this world undefended and I really don't want to either, but we don't have much choice with this battle unless we want to be annihilated,"_ Raider spoke with a grim voice. _"We will not however, leave the planet to its doom, by retreating to the polar regions, we will be putting a safe distance from the enemy fleet while at the same time making sure we're still close to carry out strikes on their forces. We'll continue with this tactic until reinforcements arrive within a few hours at most. Is that understood?"_

Receiving a chorus of 'yes commodore' from the captains, Raider allowed himself a moment of rest before relaying his orders throughout the battle group.

"You know, it really wasn't necessary to yell through the link with me being close to you to hear most of the force and suffer through it," stated Captain Telco. "I'm quite certain that I've lost 8.5% of my hearing from your first shout alone."

Raider rolled his eyes from the comment. "Quite complaining Telco, this wouldn't be your first time that a superior officer yelled with you nearby.

"True, but none of them have ever yelled as loud as you did in the link," pointed out Telco.

"Enough talking, have the _Wraithful_ move with the rest of the battle group so we can prep ourselves," ordered Raider as he walked to the front of the bridge with a full view of the planet as the ship moved towards the northern pole. Also gathering there were the remaining orbital stations that survived the initial onslaught. "The ground forces are on their own for the moment. Lets hope they can last better than we did."

**[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]**

**Core World Corverus**

**Hysandi City**

**3.531.M36**

The mood in the headquarters of the PDF wasn't happy. To say that it was bad would have been an understatement; the mood was a whole level of frustration and anxiety for the high officers.

"This is UNBELIEVABLE!" Shouted Lord Castellon Arius Nasser of the Corverus PDF forces in the command room. "The Commodore really believes that we can hold out against a Covenant invasion ourselves? He must be more naive than I thought."

"With all due respect sir, his fleet was outnumbered and outmatched with no sight of victory without sacrificing his entire battle group, which is something we can't afford to risk," pointed out High Colonel Furrom of II Division, representing the Imperial forces in this region of the planet. "His battle group won't be able to continue the fight with effective results."

Arius snorted at that comment. "Less effect or not, there's still the matter of an enemy fleet landing an invasion on this world. And I have no intention of letting this happen while I breathe." He turned around to face one of his officers.

"Colonel Vespar, where's the heading of the enemy invasion force and the suspected targets?"

"Our augur arrays have tracked Covenant forces spreading over the heart of the Kalida continent with their main landing ships touching down for the Kadar Mountains," responded Vesper. "As for targets, Hysandi city would serve as the main target for the Kadar force seeing as its the largest city on the planet and serves as major conduit between many other settlements. Other possible targets would be Dunlina and Morswil cities due to their proximity to the other landing zones, they would be the first to fall to the Covenant."

"Those low-culled bastards," muttered another officer in the room.

Vespar nodded his head in agreement. "Indeed, while the loss of these two cities won't effect us greatly in any way, but the enemy would end up utilizing them as forward bases to shelter their forces against any counter-attacks we make against them. And we can't attack the main invasion force landing in the mountain range, the natural landscape would shield most of their soldiers from our artillery and allow them to better defend their supply lines from our units. They'll also use the Forest of Stray Pines to spearhead most of their invasion safely from airstrikes. The great trees there are like fortresses of nature, their bark as strong as steel and capable of hindering their advance yet their thick canopy will allow them to be blanketed against our eyes."

"So we would need to abandon Dunlina and Morswil to the mercy of our enemies, keep a good eye on the forest and turn Hysandi into a fortress in just a matter of hours," interrupted Furrom. Turning to a holograph table of the city and the surrounding landscape. He began point to several locations around the city. "We're going to need to stop them here and there on the main highways leading to the heart of the city in order to denied them access to critical districts in the city. I will have explosive crews secure many of the roads with mines and rig the bridges to collapse should we lose control of the outer districts of the city."

His hand then hovered over the center of the city where twelve red dots laid around the heart of the capitol in a circle. "Meanwhile, the ancient lasbatteries stationed in the city will ensure the airspace around us will be free of any atmospheric warships from providing critical ground support. They will need to be heavily-guarded."

"My PDF forces will be evacuating the citizens and fortifying the inner districts of the city should things for worse in the battle," responded Arius. "In the meantime High Colonel Furrom, your men will take hold of the fields northeast of Hysandi and fortify it in preparation against the approaching Covenant forces."

Furrom nodded his head. "Understood."

The Lord Castellon straightened himself and faced the room. "Gentlemen, I cannot distress the importance of holding out the enemy line until Imperial reinforcements arrive to drive the xenos off. At this moment, it is our priority to hold out as long as we can against the tides of our enemy. Is that understood?" He received an affirmative of nods.

"Good, you all have your orders. Return to your positions and prepare for battle."

**... ... ...**

Outskirts of Hysandi City

Many people would have said that Hysandi is a beautiful city that shines across the landscape when the sun's rays strike the city towers. Unfortunately, that beauty would be ruined by the preparations of war.

"Pick up the pace boys! I want those heavy bolters up and running ASAP! We need to be done before the covenant get here," shouted a captain to his men.

A shout of 'yes sir' was heard as a group of men began setting up a large gun and linking an ammo chain filled with large shells to it. Similar actions were being done across the defensive line with soldiers setting up gun emplacements and erecting barricades. Far behind the working men, Rhino artillery pieces could be seen securing themselves in the earth with sharp clamps of supporting hydraulics pistons as their massive cannons freed of their outer casings and tilted high in the air. Closer to the lines were emplacements containing self-propelled Thorax howitzers and squads of motors ready to support the front defenses. Further ahead of the supporting weapons were the first trenches dug by the men of Armageddon and filled with reserves of younger soldiers who had yet to taste real combat, waiting anxiously for the Covenant to arrive. However, the furthest trenches were instead filled with grizzled veterans who had either faced several battles or those who have fought in many campaigns. Throughout the trenches lines of barricades could be seen placed for additional protection along with heavy weapons to further bolster the defenses. High in the air, flights of Sparrowhawks patrolled the airspace for any incoming enemy aircraft that would attempt to bomb the lines.

Watching the men work on the defenses was Force-Commander Signe de Faille of the II Battalion, III Regiment of II Division, I Corps of the VIII Armageddon Imperial Army. Taking in every detail of the defenses with his bionic eye, he made sure that none of his lines were showing any sign of weak points to allow the Covenant to breach through. The last thing he needed was giving the enemy free access to the city.

"Force-Commander Faille!"

The commander turned around to see who called him and saw that it was one of his officers under his command: Staff Commander Ulkunov.

Ulkunov came to attention when he stopped and gave his report, "Sir, we have over ninety-five percent of the defenses completed and given time, we can have the rest finished soon."

Faille nodded his head in acknowledgment, this was certainly good news. However, there was still one bit of information that has been nagging him for a while.

"Any word from the scouts on the approaching speed of the Covenant Legion?"

The captain thought for split second before answering. "The reports still remain the same: their speed still continues at the rate they have held since the scouts have last reported and their arrival time still remains of around four-and-five hours, give or take unless new complications present themselves soon. Intelligence continues to place the main aim of the attack to still be the lines of the II and III Regiments while the I and IV will deal with flanking strikes."

Faille frowned with the last part of the information once more. Knowing that his own battle lines will be facing the brunt of a Covenant Legion had not pleased to no end ever since he had learned of this not three hours ago when his man had just begun laying down the foundations of the earthworks. He had not doubt about his men, all of them were proud soldiers of the Hive world Armageddon and her philosophy regarding the nature of using the very earth to as shield to weather destruction and a barrier to grind an attack to its knees that could rival those of Kreig. But still, it was a very daunting task for his regiment, one he hoped that would not prove beyond to be handled.

Turning back to the Ulkunov, he asked, "are the men well aware of the reports?"

Ulkunov nodded his head. "The entire regiment has been briefed per protocol. There is still grumbles amongst their ranks regarding the..difficulty of our objective this coming battle. Many of the commissioned officers have been stockpiling as much munitions protocols will allow them to carry in the battlefield."

"If it will raise their confidence to have far more ammunition them at their disposal, have our logistics ensure they receive them captain. We must be ready for the coming storm."

"At once, Force-Commander," saluted Ulkunov before departing to relay the orders.

Turning his head back to continue observing his men making the final touches to the lines, Faille could see in the forest background the signs of an invading army as plums of smoke rose from the treetops and the sound of wood being brought down echoing faintly. He considered the best methods his battalion could utilize to effectively hold back the enemy and buy the reinforcements enough time to arrive and turn the battle in their favor. He mused if he should have the artillery begin their bombardment before the vanguard left the premises of the forest, but he would end up wasting ammo on a small force that for all intent or purposes, was what the Covenant commander was hoping for. He could always have the crew hold their fire, but that would mean leaving the vanguard virtually untouched and have the numbers to soften his defenses or target his auxiliary.

Before he can muse anymore, he heard his vox begin crackling as it activated.

_+Force-Commander Faille! Major Carsten has requested all officers of the battalions to report to him immediate. The scouts have returned from their missions with new intelligence regarding the status of the vanguard+_ Spoke a communications officer.

Faille had a quick look of surprise on his face. His mind was currently analyzing the exact reasons that would give Carsten a solid cause for calling a war meeting with all the officers right now? The only possibility he could come up right now was the new information the scouts reported was much more dire that it had been previously thought beforehand.

Composing himself, he quickly replied in his vox, "Thanks for bringing this to my attention quickly. Inform the Major I'll be there as soon as I can."

Faille walked to his assigned Warthog vehicle and ordered the driver to take him to the regiment's temporary command station.

**... ... ...**

Hysandi City, III Regiment's Command Station

Faille entered the small command room filled with other ranking officers of the III Regiment. He gave respectable gestures to the other four Force-Commanders Delbrück, Nielsen, Lehman, and Maisel who returned the same gesture to him. Standing at the center of attention was Major Cartsen himself staring at a holo-map depicting the tactical emplacements of his entire regiment. Standing on his right was his second-in-command Staff Major Wasser ready to help provide insight should his superior require it.

Carsten immediately inhaled deeply through his nostrils before exhaling it out loudly to catch everyone's undivided attention as he removed his gaze from the tactical map and focused it at the Force-Commanders assembled before him.

Like many meetings Faille could remember previously, the Major let the silence float for an undefined time until the inevitable moment came to abate it. "All five of you are wondering why I had you called up here when instead you should still be be making the final preparations of the earthworks. As you're very aware of, several of our scouts -three to be exact- had returned not thirty-five minutes ago with updated intelligence regarding the Covenant Invasion status and possible objectives, their reports have been enough for the High Colonel to redistribute them to all of his commanders for awareness accompanied with new standing orders to the II Regiment's officer and me only."

Faille bit his tongue to keep himself from voicing his thoughts aloud, something that was similarly mimicked by the other four to avoid disrupting the silence and breaking the chain of thoughts of their commander.

Not making any sign to acknowledge the actions of his officers, he continued. "If what the reports are true and still remain as of now, the Covenant invasion force had managed to successfully cloak most of their vanguard's strength from the eyes of our scouts and through three rings of our T.G.S.* perimeters with no warnings." He gestured a hand to the holo-table as Wasser tapped away in a thin device, causing the map to both zoom out and shift away from the Imperial lines until it hovered above the forest. A bright red half-a-ring line is marked across a specific line in the forest, the location standing roughly one thousand and eight hundred meters away from the end of the vegetation bordering Hysandi.

"It was only through timing and skill that one of our scouts manage to discover beneath the cloaks the true strength of the vanguard force sent ahead of the legion to soften us up. Adding to the fact he proved successful in surviving from Covenant ambushes whereas most of his brethren failed to come back, especially since we can no longer sense their life force anymore in the forest."

"The reports no longer indicate a vanguard strength of around three thousand strong, now that we've seen what lies hidden, their estimated numbers have grown to nearly six thousand to eight thousand instead."

The silence in the air seemed to have suddenly deafened to the point that even the low hum of the machines in the very room have ceased to produce any sort of sound that the fluttering of a lone feather falling to the floor would've been like thunder.

"What are our new orders, sir?" Lehman spoke, deciding to break the hollow silence blanketing the room.

Carsten looked grimly at him. "The High Colonel has specified that we're to hold our ground down to its centimeters, only abandoning it at the last moment it when we can no longer contain them. It will be well expected for us and the II Regiment to face heaviest blows of the Vanguard force before the main legion enters the fray. He has made it clear it matters not the losses it takes to hold them back, but we must not let the Vanguard gain a foothold in the city or we're all dead men by the first rays of dawn."

Delbrück's thick voice spoke up. "So that means we can expect extensive losses for our men?"

He grunted at that. "Unfortunately, yes."

All four officers gave each other wary glances and muttered curses promising horror to their enemies as they processed the unsealed reports from their superior.

"However," Carsten continued, "That doesn't change the fact that-"

A low-pitch electronic alarm began ringing in the room, cutting his words off. The holo-map immediately changed its visual configuration over the forest and replaced with a tactical image of the plains covering the western face of Hysandi and the eastern ranges of Stray Pines. A blinking red arc line hovered about seven hundred meters from Imperial lines.

"Sir!" Wasser spoke without taking his eyes from his device, furiously typing away on it. "Large columns of Covenant of infantry and armor have been detected triggering the final T.G.S. ring system! They have dropped all pretense of cloaking their hidden units from our eyes and are marching forward! High Colonel Furrom has given the order to mobilize all reserves and support units in preparation and place all active soldiers to red alert."

"What?!" Exclaimed Carsten, Faille and the other Force-Commanders in the room. "This soon? We were sure we still had time before they would reach the final marker! Intelligence gave us approximately three hours."

"You know is difficult to gather accurate information of an enemy force when two-thirds of it is hidden from both eyes and sensors. They have been also systematically eliminating our scouts to prevent us from seeing deeply what is happening in the forest the entire time before we could understand the situation!"

"Damn their souls to the Inferno Plains!" Carsten slammed his fist on the table, causing minor cracks to appear on its glassy surface. "What is their new E.T.A. now?"

Wasser looked up briefly from the device, "Intelligence has now placed their E.T.A. to be approximately at two hours and thirty minutes or more at most should the Covenant face extensive delays in transporting the necessary men and materials through the forest's dense vegetation efficiently! If not, they will be here by at least one hour less minimally if they can move faster."

Turning around to face his officers, he began barking orders, "You all have your new orders! Get back to your men and rouse them for coming battle. We are making our stand here! Is this understood?"

"SIR YES SIR!"

**... ... ...**

Outskirts of Hysandi City (One hour and twenty-three minutes later)

Alarms had been ringing for the last hour warning the defenders of the approaching enemy. Swiftly, the lines soon became a source of organized chaos as soldiers slammed magazines in their weapons and took their places behind the trench walls while their officers shouted orders to motivate their men to move faster.

First-Corporal Jask took a compacted weapon connected on his back and activated it. The short barrel of the rifle quickly expanded forward as the stock extended to a broader shape while the inner components of the weapon expanded too and locked together into a fully functioning tool of war. He pushed in place a fresh set of energy magazine to his hellrifle's weapon feeder and checked the ammo reader for confirmation before switching off the safety. He ran a quick inspection of the weapon, his HUD providing him valuable details of its condition as everything was scanned since the last thing he needed was the gun to jam for no good reason during a firefight in a crucial moment.

"Jask."

Jask lifted his head and smiled when he saw one of his squad mates, Private Castorin sitting down with him.

"Castorin."

Castorin turned back to Jask after sitting down. "Heard from the guys that you manage to bag Adéla and Tamás together. That true?"

Even with the helmet on, Jask stared at his friend blankly. "We're about to descent into a battle and your going to just ask me about a rumor of me getting two girls together with me and convincing them to stay with me? Really?"

"Hey, don't look at me like that! It was Xiander who told us," pointed out Castorin.

"This is Xiander we're talking about. Of course he is going to latch on a rumor and spin like it was a legend in the first place! When has he ever not done that?"

"Mmmm…point taken."

Silence filled both men.

"...You still didn't answer the question."

"Oh for crying out loud! Do I need to tell you this when-"

A deep war-horn rang loudly through the trenches, interrupting their conversation as it continued for a a few more seconds before repeating once more.

Jask stopped what he was doing and listened to the horn. A few minutes went by before he spoke with a grim voice. "They're coming."

"Wait...look at the forest!" Castorin exclaimed and pointed to what he saw.

Both soldiers along with others stood fixed looking towards the edge of the forest where comets of plasma were seen rising high into the air from the treetops. Countless eyes kept tracked of the projectiles as they arced gracefully downwards and began falling towards the Imperial lines. Realization quickly dawned upon most of the men as they immediately ducked instinctively deeper into their trenches for safety.

Before the projectiles could crash into their lines, the first ones exploded violently as a wide hexagon-pattern shield visibly appeared in the air and absorbed the impacts with ease. More projectiles crashed into the shifting shield as the enemy bombardment increased before the Imperium responded with their own.

Ear-shattering explosions ripped through the air as the Rhinos fired their heavy ordinances in response. Large pillars of fires erupted within the forest as clumps of trees and bodies were thrown in the air from the bombardment.

Next to Jask, a soldier jerked his head back as his visor exploded in a shower of glass and blood from a pulse beam drilling through effortlessly. Everyone nearby immediately snapped their weapons towards the forest and began firing. Lasers and explosive rounds tore through the thick bark of the trees as warriors of the Covenant fired from behind the shrub at the entrenched humans.

Not too soon, large beams of plasma sailed from the forest as heavy mechanical Locusts walkers broke free of the confines of the forest and lumbered forward in support of the light infantry, their weapons burning through the trenches like wet paper. Anti-mechanize weapons fired from the support trenches of the Imperial lines zeroed in on the Locust war-machines and unleashed their deadly payload. Energy shields flared to life for the walkers as projectiles struck them with those receiving the greatest concentrated of fire exploding in a shower of volatile plasma.

Unheard under the cacophony of the battle, anti-gravity sounds rang loudly as dozens of anti-personal Ghosts burst free of the forest and made a beeline for the trenches. Their actions did not go unnoticed by the Imperials who responded to these new arrivals with redirected heavy support weapons targeting them and marksmen shooting them out of their seats. Many Ghost drivers were undeterred with their current predicament and continued forward under the storm of fire. Those that quickly reach near the lines fired their twin plasma launchers, the deadly bolts cutting through shield and armor as humans were cut down in surprise. Retribution came swiftly for many of these riders as marksmen shot them from their seats and weapons ripped the soft armor plating of the craft apart.

Explosions continued to land on the Covenant as wings of Sparrowhawks made strafed runs across their ranks, their targeting systems allowing them to make precise hits against enemy mechanized units with small resistance. Their superiority over the ground forces were quickly tossed aside as squads of Banshees swooped in from the sky and let loose streams of plasma bolts and beams. Responding with tactical skill, many of the Sparrowhawks engaged their thrusters to expertly avoid the barrage of plasma with those reacting too slow catching many on their tails or engines.

The Covenant Vanguard continued to push forward as more warriors and vehicles left the forest and merged their firepower with their forward units. The first two Imperial lines were beginning to feel pressure as beams of plasma were cutting through the trenches and losses were beginning to mount up. More and more men were being pulled from the support trenches in the back to replace those in the front in order to continue holding the line.

Once the main Vanguard units crossed the halfway point, hell was completely unleashed in its devastating glory.

Warp lightening and unstable spheres suddenly erupted from multiple points across the Imperial ranks and struck the Covenant in every joint. A Locust suddenly collapsed with its limbs folding into each other in ways that should not be physically possible and its body compacting until it no longer resembled a machine anymore. Warriors jerked in stricken motions as volatile ethereal energy charged through their veins and flayed their souls from their bodies. Chaos filled their ranks as the Imperial's pyskers shattered their momentum.

Not to be outdone, the Covenant quickly retaliated with their own power. Pillars of otherworldly fire broke out in the midst of the soldiers as their bodies and souls were burnt in excruciating pain and shrieking vortexes tore everything down to the molecular that came in its contact. Death and destruction climbed high in the battlefield with pyskers of both sides unleashes the strength of their minds upon their enemies.

Runes of all kinds materialized in the ranks of the Imperial soldiers at hands of those who could wield its power as entire arrays of psionic abilities were brought out to play. More were carved in the earth under the legs of the Covenant warriors with a larger one made in the center of the Vanguard. The great rune glowed in golden energy as sky exploded in light as burning comets rained from above and struck the ground with great fury. Earth-shattering explosions shook the air as many Covenant units were completely obliterated from the rain of fire. Sky-blue spheres larger than the mass of a Warthog rose from the center ranks of the covenant towards the raining comets and sprouted dozens of thin, whip-like arms measuring for several meters before spinning at speeds faster than even an augmented eye can follow. More explosions erupted above the battlefield as dozens of comets were quickly destroyed by the razor edge of the whip arms. The rain of comets is swiftly ended once the Covenant desecrated the great rune powering it and the spheres are soon redirected towards the Imperials.

Great walls of earth rose from the ground and curved over the forward lines in defense against the spinning spheres. Most of the spheres crashed into the thick earth and became buried but others were successful in digging through and landing on top of the Imperials, the spinning arms slicing apart anything in reach in a whirlwind of flesh, metal and dirt as soldiers were easily cut apart and trenches cleared.

Jask shielded his head with his right arm as the earth wall before his line was pierced by a beam of plasma and followed with a Locust suddenly tearing through by using its forelegs as diggers to make a bigger hole. Projectiles immediately smashed into the face of the machine, the shields lighting up in response before it looked towards the direction the attack came from and returned the favor with a powerful beam of plasma.

Golden bolts pierced the cockpit of the machine with ease and collapsed it. Jask and others swiftly turned behind the origin of the attack to see Force-Commander Faille holding the regiment's standard high in the air as it glowed in hues of gold. Surrounding him were several members of the esteem Steel Guard, Armageddon's most vaunted soldiers and the elite of her Armies.

Holding the standard with both hands, the Force-Commander slammed the bottom shaft to the ground. A wavering lance of golden energy launched from the eagle emblem and struck another Locust nearby before jumping to a ghost, then quickly split itself into multiple smaller tendrils that proceeded to strike more targets with lethal results. "The line will be held against the odds!"

Helmets perked up in recognition where he was heading towards and joined in. "For our hearts are steel of will and our bones iron of strength!"

"None shall pass through our wall alive!"

"For it is held tighter than the thickest granite and harder than the strongest diamond!"

"We hold back the death that dwells from the blackest hearts!"

"We face the corrupting horrors of the deep pits of the worlds!"

"For it is our sacred duty, our mantle as soldiers of the Imperium!"

"Let them come forward to their inevitable fate!"

"For it will be their final welcome to receive!"

"By our hand of burning fire, they shall be purged!"

"Blood and steel, that is what we are!"

"We, the **Steel Sons of Armageddon!**"

A deep, baritone horn bellowed loudly over the explosions of the battle followed by more throughout the Imperial lines as columns of Covenant forces marched from the depth of the forest. Entire legions of warriors could be seen moving in tight formation with a rich diversity of infantry of all categories.

The Legions had finally arrived.

* * *

_**I know a cliffhanger. You guys are probably cussing at me for doing this.**_

_**Remember to post Reviews and Criticism**** is welcomed (again, not harshly). Like and Favor guys!**_

_**Well, this is Chapter 2, the next one will coming up and I will be soon loading up the first codex for the Imperium of Humanity!**_

_**So the Covenant of the Mantle has arrived and is coming to hand the asses of the Imperium on a silver platter. Will this world survive against the incoming onslaught or will it burn in the fires of war? Or maybe both...**_

_**Find out next time on Galaxia's Wars!**_

_**Until next time!**_

_**Sicut ars belli artificem potest arguere esse fatalem.**_


	3. Chapter III

**AN: _Back again guys!_**

_**Here's the next chapter of Galaxia's Wars.**_

_**P.S: Updated Chapter!**_

* * *

**Battle of Corverus II**

_Quote of the Day:_

_What is the strongest weapon of mankind? The war-machines of the Mechas? No! The Spartan Astarte Legions? No! The tank? The lascarbine? Not at all! Courage and courage alone stands above them all!_

_-Lord Marshal Solar Macharius from his writings_

* * *

**Slipspace transit to Core World Corverus**

**Squadron Fleet Memphis**

**Retribution-battleship **_**Starfall**_

**4.531.M36**

Slipspace had been labeled by scientists as an exotic yet bizarre realm to be born in the universe itself for an unknown purpose. An eleven-dimensional space existing paralleled to both the Materium and the Immaterium where an entire form of Universal Laws exist and where time flows in such a different method it is completely meaningless in there. Thus making it an excellent form of FTL travel in the fastest, most efficient form possible. And at this moment, Rear-Admiral Charker was becoming increasingly impatient with the speed of his squadron fleet in slipspace.

"Can't you have the fleet move any faster to reach our destination sooner than later?" The Rear-Admiral asked for what might be the 50th time so far to the helmsman of the ship.

High Navigator Sephelium carried a scowl on a face from the question. Like any Navigator, he wore a psychic hood specialized for enhancing the sight of a navigator through both slipspace or warp space and a psionic staff denoting his rank of High Navigator: navigators responsible for guiding a fleet-size armada through FTL space. "This is as fast as we can go unless you can get the tech engineers to pull off a miracle with the engines, Rear-Admiral. Other than that, the fleet is still at maximum speed."

"I'd still prefer to arrive at Corverus before it's too late."

"My job is to guide ships to their destination, not fix their speed. If you want to go faster, go tell the magos about it," retorted Sephelium rather harshly from his frustration. It was challenging enough for him to navigate the fleet without someone bugging him about something he can't change.

Sighing a bit, Charker shifted through his neural link to find Magos Kyllore and see if he had any success with the engines.

"_Magos Kyllore? Do you copy?"_

The link was silent before a response came through. _"Yes I hear you now Rear Admiral,"_ came the raspy voice of the Magos of the Mechanicus aboard.

"_Any success with convincing the machine spirit to get the engines to move faster?"_

A sigh could be heard coming from the Mago's side of the link. _"The machine spirit of the Starfall tells me that he has the engines pushing at max speed and is unsure whether the risks of blowing up the engines outweighs the chance of shorter time."_

"_So that's a no?"_The Rear-Admiral asked with hints of disappointment in his voice.

"_Not unless you want this ship to arrive as dust particles and the rest of the squadron scattered from the disruption. After all, the fleet is following the slipspace wake of the battleship and we all know what can happen if that wake is disrupted."_

Charker knew all too well what can happen in a slipspace wake if disrupted before arrival. Best case scenario is the fleet gets scattered at the destination with his flagship broken into dust. Worst case is only a handful of ships make it in one piece _and_ scattered while the rest either are crushed to either cube-sizes, implode, flung through space-time or find themselves somewhere else in the galaxy. A fate many captains and admirals would prefer to avoid at all costs.

"_Very well then. We'll stick with our current speed. Charker out."_

"_Magos out."_

Tearing himself out of the link, he turned back to the front of the bridge but then stopped when he felt a certain feeling. He wasn't the only to feel it as all activity in the bridge stopped upon feeling this sense. If there one thing being a pysker meant that you could feel anything violent through the empyrean and right now that's what the bridge, if not the entire fleet is feeling at this moment.

Charker turned to the captain of the _Starfall_. "Captain, what does the machine spirit feel?" He spoke with a bit of nervousness and uncertainty in his voice.

The captain appeared to be in deep thought as he conversed with the _Starfall's _machine spirit until he opened his eyes, "He tells me that he can't see anything largely threatening in the scanners that pose a risk to the fleet. Although there is something out there but he can't pinpoint it."

Turning to face the High Navigator for an answer, all he got from him was silence as the navigator faced the windows with the swirling dark purple color of slipspace filling the view. He suddenly grabbed his head with one hand while holding his staff to support himself as he cried in pain, his body seizing up.

His action alarmed the bridge as several crewmen ran to support him before he falls. Their faces, however, turned pale in fear when specks of blood could be seen oozing from the sides of his eyes and trailing down his face like tears. He opened his mouth to scream but instead came out a word every Imperial crewman in the Navy feared more than the coldest death in the throes of the void in their service years: **"DAEMONS!"**

**[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]**

**Core World Corverus**

**Outskirts of Hysandi City**

**3.531.M36**

The entire battlefield lit up like uncontrolled firecrackers as ranks upon ranks of Covenant warriors fired into the Imperial lines currently suppressed by the remnants of the Vanguard. Earthworks were torn apart into pieces and trenches collapsing from mass pressure as Imperial soldiers were thrown into disarray by the brutal attack.

Despite the setback, the Imperial War Machine rotated forward and answered in return as thousands of rifles unleashed torrents of energy beams supported with emplacements consuming their ammo belts at a high rate. Rippling shields exploded visibly as artillery guns refocused their fire from deep within the forest to instead the encroaching invading army quickly. Countless smaller shields appeared in the forward ranks of the Covenant countering the Imperial's advantage of solid cover as the entire force marched steadily, their fire unrelenting against their foes. Both sides dished out devastating damage to each other as the distance separating them decreased quickly.

A massive stone human-shaped hand suddenly erupted from the ground and gripped a Locust before clenching the machine until its reinforced polymers structure was squeezed mercilessly. A trench in the Imperial lines folded itself, crushing the bodies of soldiers into unrecognizable heaps of flesh and metal and burying everything including those that still survived into the earth. Across the battlefield, the power of psionics once more scythed itself through both armies as pyskers of all ranks in each side called within the full strength of the souls through their minds and unleashed it.

The Covenant managed to soon move across the field until a mere distance of fewer than two hundred meters separated from their objective. Under a hidden signal, Kig-Yar shapes broke free from the ranks of their forces raced with naturally faster speed towards the Imperial lines. However, the moment they separated, the Imperials were quickly able to identify them as T'vaoan Skirmishers supported with Champions. Rifles switched targets to eliminate the approaching CQC masters but the dexterity and agility gifted to their bodies allowed them to zigzag their way through the fire with acceptable losses maximized with the active suppression offered by the main army and the portable dual wrist shields they carried to deflect enemy fire.

Swiftly reaching the lines, many of the T'vaoans switched their portable shields and instead twisted their wrists clockwise in opposite directions, activating plasma blades, hooks or a combination of both from their gauntlets and jumped into the waiting arms of their enemies.

In the face of the assault, many of the Imperials responded with their cumbersome rifles dropped to the ground and their close-combat tools drawn free from their sheaths and activated them. Chainswords roared with hellish shrieks as they tore flesh and metal of the Kig-Yar apart in showers of gore while the victims released ear-piercing screams of the very agony they briefly felt before death claimed them. Solid swords of metal hummed with glows of steel blue energy coating their surfaces, allowing them to easily sliced anything in their path apart like wet papyrus. Imperial soldiers cried in agony as energy hooks dug through armor and flesh, the T'vaoans pulling them down with them and ripping them open. Others failed to have the time to release any screams from their lungs once the were tackled and silenced with plasma blades boiling away into their throats.

Lance-Corporal Alexandria loosed a hoarse cry as he shoulder-decked with his left a T'vaoan Skirmisher that burnt out the throat of a squad-mate into the wall of a trench, feeling the weaker bones of the xeno crush under his weight accompanied with its cry of pain. He quickly twisted around counter clockwise and gripped the head of the Kig-Yar with his right hand and shoved it to the ground. Alexandria trusted his right knee forward and connected it with the T'vaoan's back, crunching the spinal cord before gripping the neck tightly with his left and violently pulling to the side, snapping the neck. He dropped the corpse and rolled forward, recovering his chainsword and revved the weapon to life as he intercepted another Skirmisher.

The T'vaoan swiftly deflected the weapon by angling the surface of its wrist shield to redirect its momentum and thrust its plasma knife through Alexandria's twisted clockwise around the thrust and switched his stance with his right hand holding the grip and his left on the central part of weapon's back sheath, pulling the weapon down on the Kig-Yar's skull. The T'vaoan reacted with a push forward and pulling his blade arm back, switching it for a shield instead and caught the blow of the chainsword, the attacking quickly resulting in the arm snapping. The shield lost its balance and Alexandria pushed his weapon through the opening and severed the right arm below the elbow. Ignoring the spewing blood from the stump, he thrust forward his right arm and smashed the T'vaoan's face with the cross-guard of his chainsword and finished him off with a quick jerk of the weapon, eviscerating his opponent apart.

He quickly moved to the side knowing to stand still was to invite death failed to but failed to notice the fresh body of another squad mate until the last minute, stumbling in surprise before a T'vaoan Champion slammed into him in a furious gruff squawk. The blow caused him to lose the grip of his chainsword as the Champion above twisted around him and dug two plasma hooks into his chest. He screamed as intensive pain erupted in his chest as he crashed on the ground and the T'vaoan pulled back his right wrist, boiling away the armor and flesh slowly before swiftly drawing his left hook above to finish him off.

A humming sound announces from behind the T'vaoan and the hook raised in the air quickly shifts into a knife with a twist of the wrist as the Champion releases him with the other hook also changing to a shield and spins around in time, the flat surface of his wrist blade intercepting the edge of a power sword. He batters aside the weapon with a thrust of his shield and rolls to the right side as the Imperial soldier recovers from the counter with a broad mid-cut swipe, narrowly separating the head of the Kig-Yar from his body. Not letting the T'vaoan recover his guard, the soldier moved forward in a plunging cut with left foot balancing his attack. The Champion ducked to the right side and deflected the strike with his shield, using it to retaliate at the Human with a swift jab to the torso.

The soldier revealed his attack to have been a feint as he deactivated the energy around his sword and switched his left hand from the grip to the central part of the blade and twisted the weapon counter clockwise. The tip of the sword struck the face and despite wearing an enclosed helmet, the edge was till sharp enough on a molecular level without needing the assistance of the energy to slice through the metal and flesh. The T'vaoan jerked back instinctively, exposing himself open for the soldier to aggressively thrust the pommel at the exposed throat and crush it.

Coughing hoarsely, Alexandria used the wall for support him as his armor's systems injected painkillers to the dull agony of his chest as he gazed at his savior and instantly recognized as his squad leader Veteran-Sergeant Veyron. Without a word he tossed Alexandria's chainsword back who caught it effortlessly while he scavenged a laspistol from a dead Human. "Is your voice functioning or has it been recently removed?" The Veteran-Sergeant asking him dryly with no hint of amusement to be found in his coarse voice.

Alexandria coughed once before a low growl came out, "I'm not planning to deprive you of my voice until I die, sir. You'll want to ask our new neighbors to try harder next time." A grin appeared under his helmet after the last sentence.

Veyron snorted with a wry smile before smacking a hellrifle to his, letting Alexandria instinctively grip it with his remaining free arm. "We cannot tarry, we need to move out to the final defensive line now!"

Not questioning his Sergeant, Alexandria jogged after him as they passed corpses and discarded weapons before sharply turning into an adjourning trench accompanied by other surviving Imperial soldiers abandoning the first defensive line. "What of the rest of our squad?"

"They joined Kerim, Nassaar died to a slashed throat and both Harold and Félix had their chests torn. But in the end, they died honorably as soldiers."

Behind them, they could both hear and feel the drowning sound of countless armored limbs running across the earth and enter the empty trenches. Above their heads, they could see the energy bolts coming from their guns mixed with those of the Covenant and tracers filled the air accompanied by explosions and screams of all kind. Their movement came to a sudden stop once their suit's software's delegated to energy detection erupted with high activity originating behind them before the sky lit up briefly in light violet followed by an air-shattering explosion and what sounded like glass breaking.

Looking above they could see the shield that had protected them from enemy artillery had been shattered to pieces and before their eyes, watched it as it tried to reform itself before a large violet plasma beam slammed through the fragmented shield and struck something beyond their field of view. To their silent horror, an explosion appears in the air and the struggling shield ceases to form and fades away.

Breaking out of their stupor, they then _raced_ to their destination as plasma projectiles crashed around freely now that nothing was stopping the enemy bombardment anymore.

Both soldiers immediately sharply turned right in another trench with others that would take them directly to where their parent company was assigned to hold with her sisters once the fallback order was given. They managed to run numerous meters before they were quickly confronted with a Minor Domo Sangheili vaulting into the trench.

Alexandria reacted quickly with precision honed from endless drills as he snapped the hellrifle to his shoulder and fired beams of energy. The Minor Domo jerked to the side as thin lasers struck his shield and responded with his Helios rifle spewing solar rounds. Veyron shifted to the left to avoid the barrage of rounds as the power sword held in his right reformed into its complete shape and activated its deadly field. The Sangheili backpedaled frantically, making the mistake of focusing his weapon on the charging human and ignoring the ranged one. He grunted as his shield collapsed and a laser beam burnt a shallow hole in his chest piece and let his eyes glance at it.

Distracted, Veyron leaped forward and thrust his sword into the chest, the Sangheili howling in pain as the weapon effortlessly pierced through him and finished with the barrel of the laspistol shoved underneath the helmet and fired four times. The Sergeant pulled his sword free from the collapsing body and stared back at Alexandria, "keep moving!"

Nodding his head in acknowledgment, they both continued running even when a plasma projectile crashed directly in the center of the trench ahead of them and wiping out three Imperial soldiers. Unfazed, the soldiers in front of them charged through the burning plasma and they were quickly mimicked by everyone behind.

More obstacles began appearing in their pathway as the forward elements of the Covenant invasion force were soon entering the trenches or moving through them in numbers and engaging them.

A Major Onou landed from above and slammed a crimson energy sword in the torso of a soldier and quickly grabbed the mortally wounded human before him just as several beams struck the meat shield instead of him. The Onou tossed the human at the nearest soldier and vaulted forward with his helios rifle firing at another, the target jerking as the solar rounds at close range brought down his shields rapidly and pierced his chest.

A Veteran close to Veyron drew his power sword and charged the Onou and the Sergeant attempted to join in the fight but jumped to the side as Major Domo swung a white energy sword in his path. Alexandria focused his hellrifle on the Domo but immediately shifted direction rapidly and instead fired at a Ruuht standing at the edge of his vision. The Kig-Yar flinched when three energy beams struck his shields and jerked from a beam piercing his skull at the hands of another soldier.

The Major Domo lunged his sword energy sword as Veyron ducked under it and rolled to the side in response and jumped to his feet, the power sword gripped with both hands. "Death and glory Sangheili." A grunt was his only response.

Seconds passed as both sides looked at each other for a moment before rushing at each other in a flash and clashing their blades together. They held their blades together before Veyron shoved the Domo back and quickly delivered a backstroke strike at his opponent who deflected and retaliated with a forward stab. The Veteran-Sergeant knocked the strike aside with his gauntlet and performed a vertical cut that would separate the Sangheili's head. The Domo ducked under the blow and brought his blade in an uppercut strike that the veteran barely dodged with millimeters to spare. Veyron could see in his HUD how much of his shields are left after blocking the searing heat of the energy blade. He instantly spun around as fast as his augmentations and skills can allow and delivered a horizontal strike that came too fast for the Domo to stop. The Sangheili cried in pain as the graviton field of the power sword cut through his armor and flesh easily, effectively cutting him in half.

Not pausing a moment in the action, Veyron spun in a low hand before shifting the blade to angle up in an underhand cut and severed the right arm of nearby Minor Domo. He managed to form a howl to leave his lips before he used his previous momentum to plunge the sword in an overhand cut, removing the head and left shoulder from the body.

He twisted around when several solar rounds splintered across his shield from behind and watched a Minor Domo fall to his knees with two thin punctures doting the left side of the helmet. He smacked his right fist to his chest and raised it to salute Alexandria for the help who saluted back.

"To me soldiers of Armageddon! To me!"

Looking towards the owner of the voice, he saw a Master-Sergeant standing in the center a cluster of soldiers in circular schiltron formation weathering the assault around them while slowly falling back towards the Imperial lines. Signaling to Alexandria, they both rushed over to the group and joined their ranks.

For what felt like hours the cluster of Imperial soldiers crawled through the trenches while artillery flew over their heads they as they faced off constant attacks by the Covenant and each one slowly whittled down their numbers.

An Unggoy fell with two burnt holes through the re-breather mask from Veyron's laspistol as he spun around and whipped his blade in a wide arc, slicing open the helmet of a T'vaoan currently thrusting a plasma knife in the throat of a soldier next to him. Energy bolts whizzed by his head from another soldier, forcing a Minor Domo to roll to the side before a Stone Bearer rushed in front of him and deployed a light shield.

Without warning, Veyron swung his sword in an overhand cut and completely severed a plasma grenade mid-air, causing it explode prematurely while a soft 'thud' barely registered to his right. Turning his head sharply, he saw a soldier swiftly kick a shredder grenade away from the center as it detonated in the edge, resulting in three soldiers collapsing in agony from dozens of hot-tempered steel blades burrowing through their armor. A soldier to his left fell forward to the ground screaming with the flesh of his back fused to the armor from heavy plasma fire. Another jerked his head back suddenly, his visor now sporting a molten hole where his face should be.

Veyron, now the highest ranking man in the group after the Master-Sergeant died from a thrust of an energy sword, but not before returning it with interest to the respective offender with a knife jammed in the neck and ripping it open. Men were dying left and right and he needed to get them all out before they were completely overwhelmed by Covenant infantry.

Grabbing the only First-Corporal by the shoulder, he directed his neural-link to the other man's and raised his voice to be understood under the roar of the battle, _"what is your designation soldier!?"_

_"First-Corporal Jask of I Platoon, with IV Company sir!" _

_"Congrats boy, you are now with III Platoon and under my command! What is your status?" _

Jask didn't answer as he fired his hellrifle, the bolts shredding cleanly through the armor of a shield-less Major Domo. _"Three are at full strength and another is wounded but capable of fighting! Our last man died earlier in the battle!"_

_"Alert them now, we break soon and end this fight for good on my signal."_ Turning to the Lance-Corporal, he smacked the shoulder pauldron to get his attention. _"We will break free soon with what is left of us from this crossfire and rejoin what remains of our company! Wait for my signal"_

Alexandria gave a short nod at the command, _"Understood sir."_ He quickly moved his head to the right in avoidance of a plasma beam boiling the air instead of himself.

Veyron snapped his laspistol at two Minor Domos as the body of another soldier collapsed to the ground before removing an ash-grey, diamond plated cylinder from his mag belt that he had been planning to save until he really required its brutal power, which was now. He analyzed the battle around him and chose his targets, pressing the activation rune on the head and tossed the grenade in a high arc towards them. _"MOVE NOW WITH ME!"_ he ordered through the link and leaped forward, the laspistol firing at his selected targets with deadly accuracy.

Hearing the order, the surviving soldiers halted in their actions bolted after the Veteran Sergeant while firing at the Covenant warriors standing in their way. The action caught the Covenant surrounding them to pause briefly in surprise at the boldness displayed by the besieged Imperials and failed to notice the sailing grenade until it hit the ground between two Kig-Yars.

A column of red and orange flames erupted from the ground in an air-cracking explosion as numerous Covenant warriors standing close were consumed by the deadly promethium and others at the edge were tossed off their legs with smoldering scars freshly marking their armor. The rest either jerked back in shock or rolled aside instinctively for more grenades.

Using the opening, the retreating Imperial soldiers gunned down the distracted Covenant warriors and ran as fast as their bodies would allow them.

A handful of seconds passed for the Imperials before their surroundings were quickly filled with raining plasma and energy bolts from the recovered Covenant. A plasma bolt suddenly strikes Alexandria's right shoulder, causing him to grunted in surprise despite his shield absorbing it. A soldier next to him was not so fortunate as he fell to the grounding crying in pain and another was thrown off his feet from a plasma explosion.

Out of nowhere, bolt shells whizzed and energy bolts flashed past their heads and into the encroaching ranks of the Covenant warriors behind them, taking down many of them in seconds. They halted their chase and pulled back swiftly as thick volleys of projectiles tore through their bodies.

The Imperial soldiers breathed a sign of relief knowing they had been saved from imminent death...for now.

Leading the remaining survivors back into Imperial lines while charges behind them reduced the earthworks unusable, Veyron activated the vox communicator in his helmet, "Warrant-Lieutenant Stentz? This is Veteran Sergeant Veyron reporting in for the platoon. Do you copy?"

The channel answered only static until a voice cracked through. _+Veyron? You made it through? We had thought you to had died to the Covenant...again.+_

"It appears I must disappoint you once more with the Covenant's inability to kill me."

_+Spare me the details, the conversation will have to be concluded another time. Your squad indicates new recruits to the Platoon's ranks?+_

"Fine soldiers that serve under the first platoon. Why?"

_+The I Platoon had suffered too many casualties to continue that High Captain Santiago had most of the remains absorbed into the II and V Platoons. Your men represent what was left of their unit until we absorbed them. But that is now irrelevant.+_

"I understand sir. What is our new standing orders?" While speaking, Veyron leads his forged squad through others sharing the earthworks with them until they found their designated area to control. They allowed themselves a moment to restock their ammunition and equipment before rejoining their comrades in the firefight against the approaching Covenant Legions.

_"The new orders had been passed down from the Force-Commander. We need to hold them right here and prevent them from seizing the planetary capitol. We have to blunt the attack that they'll have no choice but to slow down.+ _

"Is it possible? We're facing not one but _two_ grakk-filled Legions here, you and me both know how devastating one can be let alone two healthy ones!"

_+The Division has no real choice but to fight and you know that Veyron. We lost most of the Corps in the opening attacks when the transports had been assaulted and it was by the grace of Er__ö__dalgus that we were spared from the same fate. We have our orders, see that it is executed. Warrant-Lieutenant Stentz out.+_

"Understood sir. Sergeant Veyron out."

Turning to look back at the battle, he flinched back as the same plasma beam from earlier razed cleanly through the Imperial lines and systematically crippled an entire armored battalion from the action.

Division Command Center

"Was the trajectory of the weapon caught?" Demand, rather hopefully, High Colonel Furrom.

"Sir, its origin came from the Kadar Mountains!" Replied an Operator analyzing the data shifting in the holo-screen. "Elevation is at five thousand, four hundred and twenty-two on the Stayss Pinnacle! Southwestern slope!"

"Signal the V Bombardment Battalion to lock on the coordinates and have their Cherufes eliminate it!"

**... ... ...**

V Bombardment Battalion, District Twenty-Three, Hysandi City

An Imperial officer looked down to his left wrist as a green light flashed before touching the device, causing a small holo-screen to appear feeding new data. Shadowing over him stood mammoth vehicles with looming barrels of the 255mm smooth bore gun intersected by series of thick metal rings integrated around the tubes separated into three segments of five rings with what appeared as armored filters. The rest of the gun ended in the jacket, which was connected to the mantlet in a large armored turret with thick hulls arced to better protect the inner mechanics of the weapon. Below the gun stood the main body where the command cockpit of the vehicle stood in the frontal section of the reinforced hood followed by the rest of the machine's space to be taken up by its fusion core engines and other vital components to run it. Standing slightly higher than the human were four pairs of massive wheels needed to move the heavy gun everywhere.

Tapping swiftly at his device, three of the siege vehicles stirred to life as the powerful hydraulics pistons elevated the smooth bores to the desired angle and the turrets shifted towards the direction of their target. Slowly, the rings began spinning with the middle moving clockwise and the other two moving at the opposite. Seconds passed as the rings spun faster and faster until the armored filters began glowing scarlet red from exhausting the heat out of the barrel.

In an unspoken signal, the officer looked up from the screen to look at the cockpit of the closest one and nodded his head.

Not a moment later, the first Cherufe fired in a shattering explosion as the smooth tube recoiled violently into the jacket after launching its shell well above supersonic speeds at the Kadar Mountains. Milliseconds passed before the other two followed soon and fired behind the first.

The first shell screamed aggressively as its cone, cylinder shape spun easily through the air molecules before it effortlessly smashed into the polymer hull of a tower housing a large plasma cannon on the side of a mountain. The shell quickly activated its fuse the moment its head made contact and finally detonated once two-thirds of its body passed through. The entire lower levels of the tower and the facilities set up around it to run the weapon itself disappeared from existence in a massive explosion of volatile promethium and plasma. The barrel and main "head" of the gun were tossed into the air from the force of the first shell before the second one struck it mid-air, the components crumbling under its weight and speed. A second explosion obliterated the surviving piece of the weapon when the third shell crashed where the first landed and shook the mountain, causing landslides of unprecedented size to tumble from the sides and burying anything in its path.

**... ... ...**

Division Command Center

"Weapon has been neutralized, sir!"

"Send them my complements for their work. Our boys in the front lines can now have one less thing to worry about!"

Imperial Front Lines, outskirts of Hysandi City

Alexandria ducked behind the earthworks as blobs of vibrant neon green plasma exploded across it, showering him and others nearby in dirt. Raising himself back up, he fired controlled bursts of energy bolts at Covenant targets before the hellrifle clicked several times, the ammo readers in both the weapon and HUD displaying a blinking empty power charge.

Reacting quickly, he ducked back down and pressed the magazine lock, releasing the charge. Summoning his psionic strength, he pulled a fresh one from his mag belt and slammed it into the weapon before he placed the old one in a pouch. The blinking symbol immediately disappeared from his view, now replaced with one that showed a full charge instead.

Raising himself back once more, he was then unexpectedly thrown off his feet as a pulse beam glanced off his helmet courtesy of his shields, despite the fact it felt like a hammer had smashed his skull. Alexandria felt the world spin around him with red flashes filling his HUD on the status of his shields before his visor shortly kissed the ground painfully. "GRAAHH! Aphronea's tits that frakking hurt!"

He quickly felt a powerful hand grip him from the collar behind and lift him back on his feet to come visor to visor with Veyron.

"Stow it boy! Now is not the time to comment the breasts of our Goddess in the heat of battle! Get back to the firing line until you're told otherwise or dead."

"Understood, sir!"

Alexandria shifted down to scoop up his hellrifle from the ground and once more fire at the steadily approaching Covenant Legion. A PDF soldier on his left lurched backward with several violet-pink crystal shards protruding from his chest until they exploded in a small explosion, killing the victim and another unfortunate PDF next to him.

Suddenly, a loud 'boom' reverts through the air accompanied with a deep rumbling, causing every Imperial soldier looked up to the sky to see the large body of a Covenant CCO-Assault Carrier approaching high above the battlefield from behind the Covenant Force. To their growing horror and fear, many of the ports of the xeno warship began glowing in energy, a clear indication of weapon buildup.

Suddenly, thick beams of scarlet energy spewed from Hysandi and struck its ports, the dozen large lasbatteries built long ago to defend the city opening fire at the encroaching hostile warship. The powerful shields protecting the Assault Carrier have torn apart from the intensive pressure like loose cloth in the wind as black burrows began appearing throughout the hull.

The remaining ports quickly fired their charges at the Imperial lines, causing entire sections of trenches to be wiped out or crippled. Taking full advantage of the shock attack, three large hatches opened in the central bulkheads of the Assault Carrier and deactivated their atmospheric barriers. Not too soon, three large mechanical bodies were unceremoniously dropped from the hull of their transportation and crashed into the forest behind the Covenant force.

Its objective completed, the immense CCO-Assault Carrier rose back up steadily with its shields back to full strength under the withering fire of Imperial surface batteries until it disappeared from view. The Covenant force surged forward ever closer to the lines as thundering sounds broke through the canopy of the shattered forest before the large forms of three Scarab Heavy Assault Walkers were witnessed walking over the "shrubs".

The lead Scarab let loose a mechanical roar that shook the Imperial's core. It's skeleton limbs and claws easily smashed into the earth as the entire forward bulkhead containing the mantle housing a powerful energy projectile glowed in chartreuse green, the weapon blooming wide open like a death flower. The other two Scarabs followed behind the first one with their own weapons charging to their limits, their bulky armored bodies thundering closer and closer to their targets.

The Imperials only saw the world turn to a beauty of emerald in their eyes before the burning sensation of gas seared through their flesh and their screams turned to embers in their throats.

* * *

**Slipspace transit to Core world Corverus**

**Squadron Fleet Memphis**

**Retribution-battleship **_**Starfall**_

**4.531.M36**

The reaction of the bridge after hearing the High Navigator's announcement was instantaneous.

"RAISE THE GELLAR SHIELDS AT THEIR MAXIMUM CAPACITY, WE CANNOT LET THEM _SEE_ _US_! HAVE THE ENTIRE FLEET PLACED IN **HIGH ALERT!**" Roared the Rear-Admiral at the bridge personal as if the devil was coming for their souls. Which very well might actually happen if the crew doesn't get it done in time. The crew jumped to their tasks with utmost haste as the tone of commanding officer made it clear that if they fail, the daemons will be the least of their worries. Not even a second later, a loud alarm began blaring throughout the ship and probably the rest of the squadron.

"It is too late Rear-Admiral, they have noticed us!" Sephelium cried in pain as more drops of blood dripped slowly from his eyes.

He turned sharply back to the High Navigator who was currently gripping his face in pain as he used his staff for support. "High Navigator, what have you seen of the daemons that are near?"

Sephelium slowly turned around to face Charker while fighting off a headache the daemons were giving him. "I see rivers of blood and fire, their screams of hate choking the air! The promise of slaughter and skulls to be ripped free from their spines as an offering for glory! I feel the sensations of wonder and pleasure that I cannot imagine or describe! Their words attempt to strip me of my will and mind until it is bare for them! I see the hidden shadow of one that approaches silently and twists the truth and deceives the lies! He stands behind poised to strike when your vision has lost its clarity of trust!"

Chaker felt his heart stop beating for a minute as his mind, unfortunately, understood well what he dreaded to hear from the Navigator. The description of a Greater Daemon and worse (second really, below the one he shall not speak of even in his thoughts), the ones that originate from _him_!

Losing any color he had left on his face, he muttered a phrase quietly under his breath that caused the Captain next to him to look at him in confusion and dread. "What was it that you said Rear-Admiral?"

"...Black Code-dash-Three, captain."

The captain's eyes widened in horror at the dawning realization of the order and the significance it carried. "Sir...the magnitude...it will-"

"You heard me, captain, execute the command. Initiate Black Code-dash-Three to the ship! INITIATE IT TO EVERYTHING!"

Not going to argue, the captain twisted to look back at his crew and relayed the command to them without hesitation.

Shutting his eyes, Charker tore through the neural link like a firestorm in a dry forest, his action passing unnoticed for most of the captains present in the link were currently shouting orders in their ships until his violent entrance was registered. Before they could question the Rear-Admiral on why he decided to barge into the link in the most aggressive way, he silenced them easily with his command. _"This fleet is to be placed in Black Code-dash-Three this instant without delay! The Daemons are now foraging towards us in our pathway! Escort captains, move your ships before our transports to serve as a solid shield to protect them from those warp-spawn. They are too vital for our destination to be lost! All capital warships are to follow behind me to absorb the brunt of their taint! Metallus, have the Spartans of Aurora Chapter in your ship armed and ready for combat now. You all have your orders, so get to it!"_ He quickly left the link before any of the captains could answer back. Not that they would need to because shortly after he left, the captains began delivering his orders among the fleet.

Exiting from the neural link to the real world, he once more returned his attention to the captain. "What's the current status of the ship?" He asked in a serious tone.

The man looked up from his holo-screen to look in the eyes of his superior. "The ship has gone down in complete lockdown as per protocol with ship defenses armed and the venting systems set for activation. The Armsmen are deploying to their assigned areas for immediate intrusion and the rest of the crew have taken shelter, sir."

"Very good. There can be no delays in the face of this threat." He looked back to the groaning High Navigator. "Sephelium, how long until we face the daemons?"

"Less than a minute Rear-Admiral," responded Sephelium without facing Charker.

"Rear-Admiral." Spoke the captain. Charker turned to see what the captain wanted to tell him. "The rest of the captains have reported their ships secured and awaiting further orders. Aurora Chapter has heeded your orders and is readying themselves."

Charker was just about to thank the captain until High Navigator's eyes glowed with psychic energy and announced in a telepathic voice that was definitely heard by everyone. _**"Ready yourselves Squadron Fleet Memphis. The Arch-Enemy is approaching now."**_ Concluding his message, he collapsed on a chair one of the crewmen provided to him.

Silence dominated the bridge as they waited for inevitable to arrive. They didn't have to wait too long.

A voice broke the silence in the atmosphere. "Captain! The shields are decreasing rapidly at an alarming rate!" Not a moment later, deep-pitched klaxons rang loudly throughout the ship warning the presence of multiple daemons and a particularly powerful one attached to the group dangerously close to the hull.

"Divert power from the non-essential systems to the shields," ordered the captain from his command chair.

"Sir! Most of the shields on the ship are dangerously close to collapsing!" Announced an ensign. Right after he finished, the sound of mangled, inhuman laughter filled the hallways of the ship in a revolving echo, the sound carrying the sensation to any listeners their eardrums being slowly torn apart piece by piece with rusted hooks dipped in acid. The lights in the ship immediately switched their present color of white to a lighter shade of blood-red for illumination to signal the presence of Daemons within the confines of the hull.

"Decks Nine, Ten, Twelve, Fifteen, Eighteen and Twenty-One are all reporting warp intrusions in the ship captain!" Cried a crewman from the screen of a holograph cogitator.

"Rear-Admiral! Cruisers _Dawnlight_ and _Illustria_ are reporting intrusions in their hulls and an escort is in the mists of dangerously coming close to being overwhelmed against the daemons!"

"By the Gods, a Greater Daemon is rampaging in the quarter decks! The life-signs of the stationed armsmen have ceased to respond anymore!"

"Th-th-the screams! They're everywhere! _The slaughter has come to everyone_!_ Death has come! Its blood is here! It's Here! ITSHEREITSHEREITSHERE__-__URK_!"

Nearby crewmen jumped in fright at the sound of an energy weapon discharged as the former screaming ensign slumped in his seat dead with a gaping heated hole drilled in the back of his skull, the Sergeant-at-Arms of the bridge holding a laspistol where the head once stood. Not missing a beat, the man trained the laspistol at the corpse just as the body seized up and spasm uncontrollably on the floor with beastly screams.

Nearby crewmen backed off in horror while the man stepped forward closure, his finger pulling back on the trigger as the energy weapon cracked multiple times in his left hand. More deformed screams left the twisting body from the energy bolts effortlessly piercing through the naval uniform and flesh. In a flash, the Sergeant-at-Arms swung his chainsword in an overhand cutting arc and struck the face of the former Human.

Pressing the activation rune on the grip of the weapon, the chain belt attached to the serrated teeth spun to life and pulled down. The screams rapidly turned to a strangled high-pitch shriek as the chainsword shredded the head in halves followed swiftly by the neck and upper chest sharing the same fate.

"We stand our ground here men! We must win this battle regardless of the cost to reach our destination. The transports must not be lost to the warp-spawn or Corverus will not survive against the Covenant of the Mantle's forces! To battle sons of the Imperium! We die under the banner of Order!" Charker declared in all communication systems to his fleet.

**... ... ...**

Onboard the Aurora Battle Barge _Metallus_

A lone figure in a darkened room was sitting silent and meditating before the chapter symbol until his silence was interrupted from a rising cogitator that began displaying a holograph message. +Mjolnir Power Armor VI -Artificer- Activating…+

The wall hosting the symbol in front of the figure suddenly opened up as a pair of large servo arms brought forth an impressive suit of battle armor. The figure stood up and walked to the suit as the walls and floor positioned around opened up with more servo arms. Turning around and presenting himself, the whining of the machine is heard as the arms became active and began dissembling the armor and placing it on him as he started reciting a litany.

"By the horn of war, we are roused." Four servo arms placed the chest and back armor pieces together around him and held it together as smaller arms attached clamps where the pieces connected. The clamps were quickly locked in place tightly ensuring the main armor section wouldn't be loosed.

"This oath of vengeance and honor I give to Humanity." His arms were soon covered in a pair vambrace pieces, covering most of the limb in a sheath of Titanium metal. His legs followed the same process with their own pairs of grieves and cuisses pieces leaving behind a similar result.

"On blessed blades of exalted steel sworn to taste death." Two large arms gently lowered the shoulder guards in their grip upon the empty hooks and clamps on the shoulder end of the vambrace indicating the expected presence of an armor piece. Smaller servos carefully slide in the gauntlets over the waiting hands of the man and connecting it to the vambrace along with the couters around the elbows. The legs were seen with the poleyn armor place on the exposed knees followed with the abdominal pieces placed carefully under the chest armor.

"I go forth in the storm of fire and hate." Flexible rubber seals were attached to the backs of the knees and elbows, ensuring maximum mobility for the wearer in tight or in wide spaces. Small cords were connected together as a small backpack was mechanically locked in placed to the suit and activated, allowing energy to seep through the systems. Most of the larger servo arms retreated back in the walls and floors, their duty completed while several of the smaller versions continued with the process of adding the final sections and sealing his armor into a single form.

"An angel of hope…" A servo arm gently placed a helmet on the figure's head.

"…An angel of death!" A clamp sounded as the helmet was sealed and locked to the collar of the suit. The eye lenses suddenly flashed with a yellowish glow indicating power seeping into the helmet and activating its internal systems. Through the HUD, the man could see countless messages as the quiet hum of the fusion reactor soothed his senses. He felt the muscle fibers skin tighten around his flesh as it neurally connects with his nerves and redistributed it to the suit's circuit, causing the armor to mold to his body until it was hugging him.

Behind his neck, he felt his helmet attach a device to where his spinal cord connected with the medulla oblongata and synchronized itself to his neural link. Testing the suit, he twisted around his wrist, the gauntlets mimicking the action with clear cut timing and ended with both hands clenching in a tight fist, the results showing to be the same.

The servo arms retract into the panels as the armor finished activating all of its systems for the battle. A female synthetic voice is heard in the helmet. _"Mjolnir suit fully activated and ready for action. Are you ready Chapter Master John?"_

The Chapter Master of the Aurora Chapter walked to the other end of the room where a gifted, artifact power hammer rested in a beautifully crafted case. Lifting the weapon in the air as it hummed with energy as it sensed the oncoming fight, John replied, "I'm always ready Cortana."

* * *

_**There you go.**_

_**Did you think I would forget about Chief and Cortana? The idea of making him a Chapter Master was too good to pass up.**_

_**In case**** you guys are wondering how a Spartan Astarte looks like, think someone bigger than a spartan but smaller than a space marine. Not too mention less beefy in terms of muscle mass. And their armor doesn't have ridiculously sized shoulder pads and not that bulky.**_

_**Also adding that the codex for the Covenant of the Mantle might take a little longer than I expected to finish (seriously, it's a pain in the ass) so I might bring it in by (hopefully) the end of the week. **_

_**Until next Time! **_


	4. Chapter IV

**AN: _Back again guys!_**

_**Sorry for the delay, I got caught up with the new game Destiny (not to mention it gave me a lot of ideas for new stuff in the story)**_

_**I do NOT own any of the stuff that belongs to their respective owners blah blah blah whatever (I'm getting tired of repeating this message).**_

_**On to the story!**_

* * *

**Battle for Corverus III**

_The universe has many horrors yet to throw at us. This is not the end of our struggle. This is just the beginning of our mission to save Humanity. Be faithful! Be strong! Be vigilant!_

_-The God-Emperor prior to the warp storms clearing out and allowing the Imperium of Humanity to finally expand._

* * *

**Slipspace transit to Core World Corverus**

**Squadron Fleet Memphis**

**Battle Barge Metallus**

**4.531.M36**

Chapter Master John calmly walked through the hallway as armed Chapter Praestes moved aside for their commander as he headed for the ship's armory. Reaching the double doors guarded by two armed Praestes, they saluted and opened the doors for him to enter.

Upon entering, he was greeted with rows of weapons from bolt rifles to shatter shotguns and shelves filled with ammunition. Already many other Spartans were busy arming themselves with their proper gear. A very large being even by Astarte standards approaches John whom he knew as Battle Captain Samuel of the elite First Company. He was currently garbed in his custom centurion armor that gave him an intimated appearance.

Stopping in front of his superior, he gave his report of their preparation, "All Spartans are armed and ready to shed the blood of our enemies, Chapter Master," punctuating the statement by lifting his personal modified unegar cannon with ease. Why he would be bringing an _unegar_ cannon in ship-to-ship action, John nor anyone will ever know.

Nodding his head in agreement, John looked around for someone before facing Samuel again. "Captain, where would I find Frederic?"

Samuel turned around and pointed to another side of the armory, "Frederic should be over there preparing himself." John gave his thanks and left Samuel to finish his preparations as he went towards the location of Frederic.

After passing several racks of weapons, he found him. Sitting on a bench while communicating in his vox was Honor Captain Frederic of the Honor Guards in his crafted Artificer power armor. John waited patiently for his Captain to finish his conversation with the unknown contact before his presence was noticed. Frederic quickly finished his conversation before switching is vox off and facing John. "Is there anything you need Chapter Master?" Nodding his head, John responded, "just wanting to check with you to see that you and the accompanying Honor Guards are ready for the battle."

Frederic snorted at that remark. "John, while you may be Chapter Master and tend to be the first one ready. We're your bodyguard, as such, we _need_ to be ready before you've even started putting your armor on."

A female voice quipped in the conversation, _"That's what I tell him every time, but he's a bit too stubborn to understand that."_ John groaned from the comment while Frederic smiled at his old friend's annoyance.

"Hello, Cortana. Fancy hearing you annoy the Chapter Master in front of his bodyguards." Frederic spoke with an amused expression on his face.

"_Oh, you know me, trying to get a good conversation with everyone while having a good time with my partner. Speaking of which, where's Midnight?"_ Midnight is Frederic's own Consocius of his armor and a good friend of Cortana.

He seemed to be in deep thought before answering, "he should be conversing with _Metallus_ and the rest of the other consocius on how to best deal with the incoming daemons. You should join them before you end up missing out the plans." It was pretty well known among the chapter how Cortana reacts if she misses something important. Least to say, don't be anywhere near her when that occurs or there'll be lots of regrets later.

"_Those pricks! How dare they start without me? If you guys excuse me, I'm going to give those knuckleheads a PIECE OF MY DATA MIND!_ Cortana immediately switched her connection from the power armor to the neural link. Both John and Frederic almost felt bad for the machines spirits when Cortana joins them later.

Returning his focus back to the champion for an important question, "who were you talking to in the vox?"

"I was in contact with Lord General Weller representing the II and IV Corps of the II Corverus Army and Field General Icarus of I Division of the I Corverus Marine Corps. They've offered to reinforce our forces with their Terminators," said Frederic.

John nodded his head upon hearing the offer. He knew that the Terminators would greatly quicken the process of clearing out any daemons from boarded ships. "Tell them that we accept their offer. Something tells me that we're going to need their support if we want to flush the warp-spawn faster. Tell Jerome that-" An alarm interrupted his line as it blared out along with the voice of the captain. **"Attention all Aurora members. The High Navigator has declared throughout the fleet that we have only a few moments before contact. Finish your preparations and ready for combat."** The voice of the captain stopped after delivering the news while the alarm continued.

Frederic looked at John for him to finish his sentence until he waved it off. "Never mind what I was about to say. Get everyone ready so there is no delay." Frederic saluted with a right fist in his chest armor before moving on to gather the accompanying Honor Guards.

John marched through the armory as every spartan in the room made their final preparations as he went for his equipment. Finding them on a separate shelve, courtesy of the Armory Chief of Metallus. John picked up his Astarte-crafted bolt rifle and inspected it. The light from the overhead power light made a shine over the custom-made gun. Satisfied with its state, he locked it on the magnetic hold on his back while picking up grenades and extra magazines for his rifle.

He turned back to the assembled Spartans in the room as they waited for their Chapter Master. "Are all of you finished?" Asked John.

Heavy footsteps were heard as something heavy approached the room before a booming voice was heard. **"I am now awake and ready to once again shed the blood of Humanity's enemies with my fury."** All heads turned to the speaker as Venerable Dreadnought Trion of the elite 1st Company entered while flanked by two techmarines. He is the oldest Spartan in the Aurora Chapter as he was one of the first members to form it in 2.339 I.C.

Chapter Master John bowed his head in respect to the ancient warrior along with everyone else. "Venerable Trion. Good to see that you are joining us for the battle. I hope we didn't interrupt any sweet dreams?" Several Spartans chuckled at the chapter master's joke.

The air around the dreadnought shook as he released his own chuckle that sounded very heavy. **"Unfortunately no, but that is something that doesn't matter now."** Taking a moment to inspect the assembled Astartes before returning his gaze back to the chapter master. **"Judging by our assembled brothers, I presume that we'll be facing combat shortly?"**

"Indeed ancient one, we will," answered John. He began marching out of the armory with the rest trailing behind to the War Hall. They soon arrived at the hall and waited for any other of their brothers who were arriving late. Once every spartan on the ship that wasn't staying behind to provide security for the ship arrived, John began speaking. "Warriors of the Aurora Chapter, Soldiers of the Ultraspartans Legion, Sons of the Guilliman. Heed my words." The hall fell silent as they listened to their Chapter Master.

"At this moment as I speak, daemons will be attempting to hijack the fleet in an effort to escape the confinements of slipspace into our reality. That is something we cannot allow to occur, as we need every ship intact if we want to drive the Covenant of the Mantle from Corverus at full strength. It is imperative that we prevent that from happening at all. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Chapter Master." Came the resounding echo of multiple voices.

Smiling at the assembled Spartans, John turned to Venerable Trion and indicated him to finish. He had moments ago received a message that the coordinates for their built-in teleporters were set and ready to go.

"Spartans, we will soon teleport to the _Starfall_ to provide support for the armsmen in clearing out the elements chaos from the halls. The High Navigator has unfortunately detected a Greater Daemon in their ranks. There will be no Grey Knight support for this mission, so we must all be wary of our surroundings and our minds for corruption."

The floor shook slightly as the dreadnought walked in front of everyone as only the oldest veteran present can say these words. **"What is our Duty?"** The booming voice of the ancient echoed across the hall.

"To Protect the Innocent!" Came the response from the Spartans to Trion's question.

"**What is our Motto?"**

"To never show Fear!" The crackling sound of the teleporters powering up was heard in the background.

"**WHAT IS OUR CRY?" **The sound of the teleporters warmed up became recognizable to anyone, as the fizzling turned to static as it signaled them ready to be used.

"DEATH SHALL NOT HAVE US AS WE BREATH!"

The static soon turned to crackling as the teleporters activated on all the Spartans present in the hall as they became wrapped in electric tendrils. With a resounding 'crack', all the Spartans teleported from the hall.

**... ... ...**

In the hallways of the Battleship _Starfall_

**"Na'shar yeorg chaxio urz!"** Roared a bloodletter ripping the entrails of a screaming armsman with its bloody talons.

"Kill that bastard NOW!" Shouted Sergeant-at-Arms Huver to the squads under his command. Several armsmen complied as they focused their fire on the chosen bloodletter. The explosive sound of several shatter shotguns firing is quickly replaced with the death scream of the daemon as its body was ripped to shreds from the rounds before it could deliver a death stroke to the dying man. Unfortunately, as another armsman pulled him back in, it became clear that his wounds were too severe and was quickly put out of his misery.

"Keep the line steady!" Huver ordered as he continued firing into the mass of bloodletters as they tried to reach them. "We can't let them run freely on this ship. If that happens, we're in trouble!" He watched as a bloodletter gripped the head of an armsman and with little effort, tore the skull free with pieces of the spine still attached to it before slamming it back into the corpse. Another was struck in the chest with a chainsword but instead screamed in delight of blood flowing and thrust its Hellblade into the sternum of the offending armsman, killing him.

One bloodletter rushed forward and suddenly swung out a shrieking Fire Whip at several armsmen standing in his path. A few of the men saw the whip coming and were able to duck in time. However, the same could not be said for others as their brutalized screams were cut off swiftly once the whip severed their esophagus apart through their carapace armor. Their heads struck the floor before their weapons did. The Bloodletter screamed in glee at the sight of blood and death it caused as it shredded another group of armsmen to pieces with its weapon.

The brutal strike broke a hole in the armsmen's line, allowing several bloodletters charged forward in with their blazing Hellblades towards the gaps formed in the lines by the lone brethren. The surviving armsmen desperately tried to drive back the daemons but the action proved futile quickly against the overwhelming power of the bloodletters that reached them. Screams of pain were drowned under bestial roars as the bloodletters swarmed through their ranks and tore them apart in an orgy of violence.

Huver roared in fury as swung his left fist down and battered aside the jawbone of a bloodletter, sending it spinning away and shoved his chainsword into another bloodletter and activated it. The chainsword's teeth shrieked in savage joy as it chewed the screaming bloodletter's hide in a gruesome way. He lifted his weapon up and cut the daemon from the stomach to head in half. Before he could pull the weapon from the corpse, another daemon jumped at him screaming. Huver only had few seconds to register the daemon's appearance before his sword arm was severed from his shoulder. He shouted in pain as the bloodletter followed up with an undercut, removing his right leg and causing him to collapse onto the floor as he tried to stay conscious.

The bloodletter gripped its Hellblade with both hands to deliver the last strike before the sound of crackling was heard. For a split second, the air smelled like burned wool before the hallway exploded in crackling electricity blasts. One of the blasts occurred behind Huver as the daemon paused for a moment to grasp on what happened before an armored fist appeared and smashed the face to a pulp.

Chapter Master John leaped over the disintegrating corpse of the daemon as he swung the great power hammer _Remembrance_ in a plunging cut, crushing the skull and chest of another Bloodletter.

_"John! On your right at lane three-zero!"_ Cortana shouted to him.

Shifting to the left, he swung the _Remembrance_ in a wide arc to right and split the torso of a leaping daemon next to him. The bloodletter wheezed from the blow but was quickly silenced with four bolt shells scattering it skull everywhere. John raised his boltrifle to his left, the weapon barking loudly in his hand as another bloodletter was destroyed with five shells to the head.

Around him, dozens of Spartans had teleported into the hallway supported with Terminators. Their heavily augmented bodies allowed them to fight greater than the Bloodletters of Khorne but that tidbit of information didn't matter to the daemons, worthy opponents had shown up and they were going to enjoy this fight.

Rushing forward, John slammed a bloodletter with his right shoulder and crashed him into the wall. In swift sequences, he head-smashed the skull of the daemon with enough force to bend titanium before crushing the throat with his right elbow and followed up a with him shoving the barrel of bolt rifle in the mouth and firing.

_"Behind you, John..oh never mind Frederic got him."_ Cortana quipped.

Sharply turning around, he witnessed Honor Captain Frederic scissor a bloodletter in half with his twin long kukri blades. He saw one of his Honor Guards sliced a daemon from chest to hip with a power sword. Down the corridor, Battle Captain Samuel could be seen unleashing the payload of his unegar cannon at the largest groups of bloodletters, the powerful weapon bursting the daemons like balloons with its supersonic shells.

Within minutes, the combined firepower of both Spartans, Centurions, and Terminators completely eradicated the presence of daemons in the main corridor of the ship.

The corridor was silent until broken by the panic sound of an armsman who noticed the injured Sergeant-at-Arms lying on the floor. "The Sergeant is down! Medic!" Armsmen scrambled aside as a medic rushed over to the prone form of Huver. The sergeant attempted to sit up before his body racked up in pain and coughed up blood. "Sir, you need to lay down. You're in no condition to start walking around without hurting yourself," informed the medic as he slowly lowered Huver to the floor. The medic pointed to two armsmen, "you two. Inform the Apothecarion that we have severely wounded men and they need medical attention this instant. Understood?" The two men saluted and quickly took off while voxing in the request.

Huver in the meantime was trying to stay awake and noticed one of the armored soldiers approaching him. He noted that the armor looked custom-made and decorated before realizing that he was in the presence of the Chapter Master of the Aurora Spartans. The Chapter Master leaned down on one knee as he looked down at the fallen sergeant. "Are you in charge of this group?" The voice of the Spartan came out heavy and slightly twisted from the helmet's speakers. Huver nodded his head slowly and winced as the medic injected him with biofoam to keep his injuries intact. "Good, you can rest now. We'll continue the fight." Huver responded with a weak nod before sedated into unconsciousness from the medic.

John stood up and faced the Spartan Astartes as they waited for his command. "Sergeant Jerome, take Red Squad and scourge the engines of the ship." A Spartan acknowledged with a fist to the chest as he and his squad left. "Sergeant Mike, Grey Squad along with Green squad will make for _Starfall's_ bridge and secure it from any Daemon incursions. We cannot let them gain a foothold in this ship." Another Spartan accepted his order with a salute to the chest and moved down the corridor. "Battle Captain Will, you will lead the Second Company towards the largest incursions on the left stern. Ensure they are sealed."

"Battle Captain Samuel, take your First Company and follow my lead. We will hunt down the Greater Daemon in the bowels of the ship before it can corrupt the crew and later, the entire fleet." Samuel nodded his head and John turned around to face the remaining six Astartes waiting for him. "Steel your hearts and shield your minds men for we now hunt a Greater Daemon of the Twister of Daggers_(1)_!" He immediately took off jogging down the corridor leading deeper into the core of the warship with his Honor Guards and First Company trailing behind him.

**... ... ...**

Deep in the corridors of _Starfall_

The corridors of the ship rang loud of reinforced metal clashing with each other, each beat repeated over a hundred times over and over again. It was a sound only produced by the stomping of over a hundred pairs of armored boots marching in sync without pause.

Marching forward ahead of a column of Spartans, John led his personal Honor Guard with the First Company following behind them. There was no subtly in their part for it was completely unnecessary. They knew that the target would already be aware of their intent and of their approach.

Continuing to march, they soon came to a point where the corridor they traveled in split itself into three separate hallways. Silently, Jonh lifted his right hand with the index and middle fingers extended, pointing at the right hallway and bobbed it twice. Immediately, a third of the First Company separated from the group and entered the selected hallway without a word. He then shifted his hand towards the left hallway and repeated the action. Another third of the Company mirrored the actions of the first and entered the left hallway. Once that was done, John lowered his hand and gripped his power hammer tightly as he marched his Guard and what remained of the First Company with him through the central hallway.

They traveled through undisturbed until their pathway was finally blocked by a sealed steel blast door. Without missing beat, John strode forward of the group and swung his hammer in a downward cut. The door gave a mixture of a deep and high-pitch groan as weapon tore easily through centimeters of reinforced steel until a broad hole was left behind.

Immediately, the nearest Honor Guard entered through the breach and scanned for hostiles. Finding none, he lifted his right hand and clenched it, signaling the rest to enter.

Stepping into the breach he created, John entered the large chamber that had been reported to have been where the signature of their target had last been noted. Sweeping the room with his keen eyesight, he could see the corpses of armsmen that had made the futile attempt to fight the Greater Daemon and paid the price with their lives. The bodies could be seen scattered across the chamber, each one horribly disfigured beyond what could be described a human from a distance. Others had been nailed to walls with twisted symbols drawn in their blood, their aura causing Spartans who gaze at them to flinch away in utter disgust of what they represented.

But there were those that showed signs that they had not died by daemonic means but instead by Imperial. Every now and then, there would be corpse displaying blown off limbs by lasfire or torn apart by a chainsword, with some still having the weapons embedded in their chests.

"Eyes around men. Look for our target, avoid gazing at the symbols and desecrate any if you have the chance," spoke John as shifted his hammer to rest the shaft on his right shoulder. "Cortana and Kurt, where is our target?"

Kurt took a moment to sweep the air with his staff before suddenly gripping it with both hands. "It is here in this room with us, I can sense it. But for where it is I cannot pinpoint it."

_"John, Starfall has allowed me to interface with the chamber you're in and...it's...above?"_ Every Spartan in the room heard her answer and immediately aimed their weapons to the ceiling.

"Cortana, are you sure it is the ceiling?"

_"I'm positive of this John. I can **feel** it's despoiling flesh clinging to the surface! Kurt, you sense it there too?"_

Kurt carefully gazed at the ceiling. "Yes, I can feel it there but its presence can be felt around the chamber. Wait, wait. It's now converging to the right...MOVE AWAY FROM THE WALL NOW!"

Suddenly, an entire side of the right wall erupts in a formless shape of pulsing flesh as it detaches from its hiding and falls on a surprised Spartan. The man spun around quickly towards the impending danger with his boltrifle aimed up and jumped away as swiftly as possible. But not fast enough.

The wall of flesh collided with the Spartan and snatched him in its grip. Before he could cry out for help or any could rush to assist him, the formless flesh ripped the head free along with a string of spine from the body and his right arm with it.

The entire chamber lit up as dozens of weapons discharged at formless flesh, causing it to release a grinding flesh-like groan from its body. Before it could do anything, a heavy stream of warp lightning struck the center mass and threw it against a wall.

Knowing it was his chance, John pressed a rune on the shaft of the power hammer, the weapon activating with a steady hum and a corona of blue energy wrapping around the head while special runes carved in the metal glowed with golden light. Charging forward, he leaped at the stunned Greater Daemon and with a great swing, smashed the head of the of the hammer into the thickest mass of flesh he could see, releasing a powerful shock wave of devastating energy.

The daemon howled in agony at the sensation of a blessed weapon tearing through chunks of its flesh and rendering it incapable of healing from such wounds. Enraged at the audacity of the mortal, it quickly sprouted several limbs from its formless body each one ending in a sharp edge and thrust them.

John ducked under three of the spears of flesh and spun one-eighty degree clockwise with his hammer swung in an underhand cut. The daemon hissed as two of its limbs were ripped free from the body and before it could retaliate back, groaned in more pain at the feeling of a power sword from an Honor Guard slice its right flank followed with another on its left.

Not letting it receive a break, he raised his hammer above his head swung it down in a sharp arc, the blow nearly severing a section of the flesh from its body. Seeing movement from the edge of his peripheral vision, he swiftly twisted aside of a limb and seized it with his left hand. Crushing it in his grip, John viciously pulled back and leaned forward with his right hand swinging his weapon in a horizontal cut, tearing deep into its body.

It knew now that it that was in a terrible position and needed to escape. Sprouting more limbs, it quickly seized the many corpses scattered across the chamber and hurled them at the Spartans by the dozens. Many of the Spartans halted in their actions to dodge the projectiles as the sound of bodies smacking the floor echoed.

Now distracted, the Greater Daemon hurled itself away from them and towards the doors on the other side of the chamber. it roared in pain at the sensation of warp fire boiling its back from the powerful pysker but ignored it. Moving fast, it jammed several large limbs around the frame of the door and ripped it free before cocking it back and throwing it at the chasing Spartans.

The closest Spartans jumped aside to avoid the heavy projectile with one moving a second too slow and crying out as his left arm was broken from the immense force of the blow. Not sparing a glance, the daemon squeezed itself through the door and away.

_"John,"_ Cortana spoke in his ear with urgency. _"We can't it escape before it can regain its strength. If it does, you know what will happen to the fleet."_

Halting over the injured Spartan, John placed a hand on the side of his helmet as a medic came check the man's status. "Groups A and B, the Greater Daemon has escaped through Corridor thirty-two-dash-D-dash-one-three-eight-four and it is injured. Converge and intercept it now!"

_+Understood Chapter Master+_ Came the reply from the vox before the sound of several bolter patterns erupted down the corridor accompanied with otherworldly howls.

Passing through the opened door, John entered the corridor to see one of his Spartans sail from around the corner in the air and smash into the wall. The Spartan grunted from the blow but nevertheless, rose up to his feet swiftly and charged back down to the fight. Not going to comment on what he saw, he turned around the corner to see the Greater Daemon surrounded and aggressively lashing out with dozens of sharp limbs at his Spartans.

Hefting the Remembrance with both hands, he placed his right foot behind and burst forward with speed that allowed him to cross the distance faster than the blink of an non-augmented eye. Charging for its back, he had almost reached it when, without warning, two more limbs erupted from its back and swung at him. Suddenly, time slowed down to a crawl around him as his body kicked itself in Spartan Time in the face of danger.

With practical and skillful ease, John twisted through the limbs that were now moving at a glacier's speed and without hesitation, swung his hammer at the supposed torso of the Greater Daemon. He watched as his weapon tore through the warped flesh of the daemon, leaving behind an injury too fast for it to properly react because as soon as he was done with this strike, he twisted around for another swing and carved his hammer across the upper chest, demolishing it and followed once more with another blow and another.

Continuing to rain blows on it, he soon began feeling the effects of the Spartan Time wear out in his blood stream, causing his surroundings to now start to pick up speed slowly ever so slightly.

Quickly moving in action, he used the last of his advantage to hold his power hammer with the tip of the weapon pointed towards the supposed chest of daemon, now exposed after reducing the amount of mass it had covering it. With one last burst of speed and psychically augmenting it, John thrust his weapon into the chest just as the effects now dissolved to the point that time was now moved in sync with his.

With a great howl, the Greater Daemon collapsed on the floor with the Remembrance sticking out of its chest and its entire body covered in brutal injuries that even was proving too much for its self-healing methods that all daemonkind are infamous for to fix it.

Moving forward, John stepped on the body of the daemon until he was standing over its chest where his hammer stood upright, sticking straight from the wound. Without hesitation, he pulled his weapon free from its confinement and raised it high in the air. Before he could swing it down, a psionic beam struck the weapon, causing it to suddenly crackle in high intensity and increase the glow of the golden runes. Knowing what had been down, John heaved and swung down his hammer with full might into the center of the daemon's chest and spoke two words. **"Vera farinn."**_(2)_

The sickening sound of flesh splattering echoed in the corridor as the head of the hammer easily crushed through the layers of the flesh of the daemon and smashed its spirit core. The Greater Daemon _screamed_ as it spasm and twisted before most of its body began breaking into flakes and disappear in the air.

Stepping off the dissipating corpse, John powered down his hammer and retracted the weapon and mag-locked it to his right hip. Hearing footsteps, he looked back to see Kurt and Frederic approaching him. "It is fortunate for us all the Greater Daemon was never at even half strength," Kurt spoke up as he nudged what remained of the daemon. "Had the dimensions of Slipspace not worn down the power and influence it carried, we would not have stood much of a chance."

John knew Kurt was correct in this assumption. They were indeed lucky, _very lucky_. The Greater Daemons of the Twister of Daggers were never to be underestimated under no circumstances regardless of what you brought with you. The fact that it had not caused most of his Spartans to suddenly start slaughtering each other was a blessing itself.

Lifting a hand to his right ear, he called the deployed teams. "All Spartans, Greater Daemon has been banished successfully with minimal casualties. Report your statuses."

He didn't have to wait long for a response._ +Sergeant Jerome reporting, the objective is a success.+ +Sergeant Mike reporting, the bridge has been secured, the Rear-Admiral is unharmed+ +Battle Captain Will reporting, incursions have been successfully contained and purged+_ John smiled at the news that the incursion had been dealt with. "You have all done well, report back to _Metallus_. We'll soon be arriving at our destination." He received acknowledgments from them before they closed.

* * *

**Core World Corverus**

**Hysandi City**

**112th Street**

**3.531.M36**

Jask ducked behind the barricade with Jonathan as a plasma mortar exploded nearby, showering both in debris and ending the lives of two soldiers closer to the blast radius. "Keep firing men. Make them pay with blood for every meter they take! No mercy!" Shouted Veteran-Sergeant Veyron as he fired his plasrifle furiously at the Covenant lines.

Jask rose behind the cover and joined in with firing his hellrifle at several Covenant warriors who were firing from the other side of the street. Zeroing his sights on a Sangheili, he squeezed the trigger and the muzzle of his hellrifle flashed as six beams struck the shields of the xeno and collapsed them. He managed to only fire two more beams, burning lightly through the armor before the xeno ducked behind a large piece of debris.

"Locust!" Screamed a soldier to his right. True to his word, a Locust trudged behind the Covenant lines, its devastating beam ripping through barricades the PDF has set up previously. To his horror, the machine turned its attention towards his direction and charged its weapon.

"Get out of the way-" Was all he could say before the Locust fired its beam and blasted the barricade apart. He heard screams as he watched his friend Jonathan boil away under the heat until not much was left of him. "Jonathan, no!"

"Pull back! We can't hold this street much longer!" An officer roared over the explosions of the battle.

Before the Locust could position itself for another firing line, an air-cracking 'boom' exploded behind Jask, causing his head to shake from the air rocking. The Locust suddenly staggered to the side as its shields flared up and blocked an explosion.

Looking behind, Jask could see a heavy Baneblade tank roll around the corner three intersects down, its heavy Demolisher cannon smoking from its earlier firing. The behemoth of a tank crawled over to the fight, its series of heavy bolters lighting up with thousands of rounds. Many of the Covenant retreated in their cover which proved quickly useless as the large 0.65 caliber bolts tore through the concrete, plasteel and xenos with little difficulty. The lascannons mounted in smaller turrets fired with pinpoint accuracy at any heavy support weapon squads or anything of importance the crew could see.

The demolisher cannon shifted once more before firing again, the smooth barrel recoiling into the jacket as the shell flew screaming in the air and exploding on the Locust's shield.

The shield collapsed from the intense force, allowing for the Baneblade to refocus its lascannons to eliminate the shieldless Locust. The Locust quickly readjusted itself and fired its beam at the heavy tank.

The Baneblade's own shield absorbed the energy beam and responded with the firing of its heavy cannon once more.

The Locust quickly found itself missing its right foreleg as it was blown off and collapsed to the ground as its left foreleg melted under lascannon fire. The Covenant around panicked at the sight of their war machine fall to the ground and the Imperials felt their confidence increase thanks to their heavy support.

An explosion took the Locust once its energy core was breached by a shot from a lascannon. The surviving xenos began pulling back under the scrutinizing fire of the Baneblade and the Imperials now feeling confident, pushed forward down the street.

Immediately, however, Jask and all humans stopped at the feeling of their hairs on their necks rise at a strange but familiar sensation. A second passed for the entire group before they all recognized what is was and quickly broke ranks to the sides. "Enemy pysker in the vicinity!" A soldier shouted in a panicking tone.

Not a moment soon a trail of destruction began tearing up pieces of the ground into the air on the Covenant's side and tore through the street, heading straight for the Baneblade. The heavy tank desperately tried to move to the side in time but the large profile of the vehicle made it difficult and slow.

The trail of destruction reached the heavy tank and for a moment, the vehicle itself and surrounding debris floated slightly above the ground before it was brought down swiftly. The entire Baneblade suddenly found itself crushed to a third of its original size as though a large, invisible foot descended from the heavens and stepped on it.

Jask backpedaled on the ground as men around him screamed in agony as streams of warp fire boiled away their bodies. Bolts of warp lighting could be seen launching from the side of the Covenant and striking Imperial soldiers, their shields popping and armor cracking under the ethereal power.

"RETREAT! Retreat our lines!" Roared Veyron while firing bolts of plasma at a Sangheili standing dozens of meters away wearing strange armor that crackled with energy accompanied with a throng of Covenant warriors who fired upon the disarrayed soldiers.

Like an angel descending from the heavens, a psionic voice echoed in his mind and likely others of his unit. _~Steadfast Sons of Armageddon! Retribution comes for all the enemies of man!~_

Looking above, he could see an Imperial psyker riding an armored Pegasus steed, the magnificent beast curling its broad wings as it dived bombed the Covenant position. Both man and steed crashed into the center of the Covenant warriors, kicking up debris and dust in the air and knocking those nearby to the ground.

Jask suddenly felt the air around him crackled and twist, quickly recognizing what it was and knowing who was making this. Jumping to his feet and collecting his hellrifle, he yelled at the soldiers next to him, "Teleportation incoming!"

Barely getting the last word out, he felt himself pulled into the warp and was suddenly beset by bloodthirsty screams and whispers of horrid language. Around him, the maddening swirls of the warp flowed around in multicolored patterns and grappled with him as a rift swiftly opened in front of him. Feeling himself dragged into it, he readied his hellrifle until he breached through and found himself back into the peace of the battlefield. The whole process took less than two seconds from start to finish, but for him, it rather felt like minutes instead.

Stumbling out of the rift, he saw a Sangheili warrior turn around in alarm of the noise behind him and noticed him. Moving faster, Jask raised the butt side of his rifle and slammed it into the face of the xeno. The Sangheili was thrown off his hooves from the blow and crashed on debris. Not letting about to let his opponent recover, he raised his hellrifle and fired eight beams at him, cutting through the damaged shields and armor.

Lasfire and plasma bolts erupted behind, letting him know that other Imperial soldiers crossed the transition safely and were joining in. Covenant warriors were quickly dropping to the ground under the surprise counter-attack by the numbers.

A Unggoy suddenly flew in the past his face screaming at the top of his small lungs and flailing his arms around. Turning sharply where it had originated, he could see the pegasus from earlier going wild on the Covenant warriors.

The large steed was thrashing his head back and forth with a shrieking Ibie'sh in his jaws as he bucked a Sangheili in the chest with both hindquarters, the blow crumbling the armor and tossing the xeno in the air. The pegasus was suddenly pushed back from the fire of a Jiralhanae and responded by detaching metal feathers from his right wing and flicking them.

The Jiralhanae and two of his brethren reacted too slow to dodge the attack and were skewered by the small blades. With one final aggressive shake, an audible 'snap' his heard as the Ibie'sh's neck is broken and the pegasus tosses the corpse aside.

"Soldiers!" Veyron called out, getting everyone's attention. "Provide support for the psyker! We need him to hold on to this ground!"

Looking to where the psyker was, Jask was momentarily memorized by the witnessing of the duel.

Both pyskers, Human and Sangheili, were surrounded by clouds of crackling energy as each moved around what could have been mistaken as a war dance of some sort to avoid each other's attacks. Each strike caused the ground crack deeply, each blow blocked caused the air around to explode in thunderclaps as air molecules were annihilated, reality twisted and changed around the two as they fought.

Words of power left the tongues of both combatants, causing the air before them to ripple and tear as the Materium struggled to keep itself from collapsing from the influences of the Immaterium. Floating around their heads were runes of all kinds, sizes, and color.

Realigning his weapon at the enemy psyker, he along with others pulled the trigger of their weapons and dozens of projectiles smashed into the shields of their target. The Sangheili swiftly lifted his left hand and blocked the shots with a psychic barrier. One of the soldiers immediately dropped his rifle and pulled a Gorgon Launcher from his back, causing the weapon to expand and fit snugly in the man's hands. Aiming the launcher, he fired a single grenade and enveloped the xeno in a ball of fire and smoke. The Sangheili flinched from the attack and stumbled back as another grenade exploded on the barrier followed with another and another. The blasts didn't kill him but that was not the real goal of the soldier.

The Sangheili suddenly gave a startled cry and his body began twisting once he lost his focus in the duel. The Imperial psyker however quickly ended his misery with a horizontal slash of his staff in the air, causing the Sangheili to be split in half.

Suddenly, voxes began sputtering as a new voice spoke; _+This is High Colonel Furrom speaking. I have received excellent news. Reinforcements will be arriving shortly. Stay tight and continue holding out for few more moments. High Colonel Furrom out+_ Upon hearing the news, many of the Imperials began fighting with greater determination than ever. With reinforcements close by, they were determined to make sure to do as much damage as possible and hopefully trap them into a hammer and anvil situation.

* * *

**Slipspace transit to Core World Corverus**

**Squadron Fleet Memphis**

**Retribution-Battleship **_**Starfall**_

**4.531.M36**

"_Are all ships ready, Captains?"_ Came the voice of Rear-Admiral Charker to all the Captains in the fleet-wide neural-link. One by one, every Captain gave their ship the green light to their superior. Charker was soon satisfied with the condition of his squadron. _"Very well then. I have nothing else to say now. Good luck. The Emperor Protects."_

"_The Emperor Protects."_ Chorused the Captains together before as they temporally left the link.

Exiting the link, Charker walked over to the command chair where the Captain sat and stood by him. Without turning around, Charker asked him a question, "how much more until we arrive?"

"Both Sephelium and the Navi-cogitator said we will arrive in a matter of minutes," he answered with taking his eyes off the windows of the bridge.

"Sirs." Both turned to see the Flag-Lieutenant, the Captain's second-in-command approach them. He stood at attention before addressing them; "we will be breaking out of slipspace in T-minus one minutes."

"Thank you for the information, Patterson. You can return to your station." The Flag-Lieutenant identified as Patterson saluted before returning to his place.

Everyone soon brought their attention to the front of the bridge as the swirling light of slipspace began constricting and opening as the ship started the process of exiting into realspace.

* * *

**Holderus System**

**Core World Corverus**

The space surrounding Corverus was peacefully silent as nothing can be heard in the death throes of space itself. Warships of the Covenant of the Mantle hovered over many parts of the planet as they emptied their cargo of warriors and machines for the invasion while several others continued fighting with the remaining Imperial ships as they attempted to disrupt the invasion. Filling most of the space was, however, a large graveyard of all ships of both sides that were destroyed in the first space battle that led to the near-destruction of the Imperial fleet defending the world along with most of the stations excluding the orbital platforms.

Nothing was happening at the moment for the many Covenant patrols looking out for Imperial reinforcements as they silently shifted through space.

'_Not one sign of enemy reinforcements. Will there be any?'_ Shipmaster N'thoramee thought to himself as he sat on his anti-gravity Command Chair while watching the stars from the bridge. It had been hours since Fleetmaster Rafirmee led the _Fleet of Fury_ against the Imperial world of Corverus. The defenders had been taken by surprise and even though they put up a valiant fight, they were horribly outmatched since the Fleetmaster had knocked their strongest ships out during the early moments of the battle. Ever since then, the remains of the Imperial naval defenders had retreated to the planet's north pole and stood there while carrying out small strikes against the larger fleet until Rafirmee retaliated by sending several ships to 'deal with the cowards', the results was a larger grave for the Imperial Navy as they now had only a few active ships in one piece. N'thoramee didn't know why Rafirmee focused most of the fleet on the planet when he should be making sure that Imperial reinforcements couldn't sneak in behind their backs if they had larger responses than measly patrol groups.

Currently, his patrol composed of three CSV-Frigates: the _Unyielding_, _Spirit of Valor_, and _Righteous_. They were led by his CPV-Destroyer, the _Fearless_, under strict orders to patrol through this area of space for any Imperial ships trying to sneak in.

N'thoramee's thoughts were quickly cut off as an Unggoy at one of the scanners spoke up.

"Shipmaster!" The Unggoy spoke in a high-pitched voice. "Scanners appear to be picking something up in the radiation levels." This got his attention since it could mean one thing.

"What are the readings?" He questioned to the Unggoy as he walked up to him to see the readings himself.

"The radiation levels are higher than the usual. Definitely not the background. The readings appear to rise up quickly."

N'thoramee's twin hearts began pounding in his chest as he took in the news. He knew what that meant but he hoped that his suspicions were wrong. "What is the rest of the patrol reporting?" The nearest crew members could hear the slight fear in his voice.

One of the Kig-Yar, an Ibie'sh if he remembered correctly, typed away on a holo-tech before turning to face his superior. "All ships are reporting the same thing Shipmaster," the Ibie'sh answered in a raspy voice.

His suspicions were indeed correct as hoped it wouldn't. Imperial reinforcements were moments away from arriving.

"Place the patrol on high alert and have all ships start pulling back to the planet with the best haste," N'thoramee ordered to the communication officers as he sat back in his command chair. "Inform Fleetmaster Rafirmee that Imperial forces are arriving to help their brethren." The communication officers began working furiously to send his orders and message as quickly as possible.

The patrol group began turning around as fast as their sub-light engines could allow to not be in the same place as when their enemy shows up. Just as N'thoramee thought they might make it, the same Unggoy from before began shouting in panic.

"Shipmaster! Scanners are now showing massive signs of slipspace radiation. A portal is being opened!"

N'thoramee watches the windows in despair as a large Imperial warship exits the portal and completely pulverizes the _Unyielding_ by smashing the frigate aside with its size with barely a scratch on its hull.

He slowly and calmly sits back on his seat closes his eyes and accepted his death as the bridge continues in a panic with more news and the fact that the warship, now identified as a battleship, was powering up its weapons. The last things he sees before the Battleship's guns destroy his ship is the appearance of more Imperial ships exiting from portals as the bridge explodes in fire.

**[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]**

Retribution-Battleship _Starfall_

"Rear-Admiral, it appears we have struck something," remarked the Captain dry tone.

"It appears so, Captain. I hope the paint job on this ship hasn't been ruined because of it or there will be hell to be paid in interest." Agreed Charker. He walked to the holo-table as it displayed the entire Holderus System before zooming it into Corverus and his squadron. "Squadron status?"

"_All ships are reporting green sir."_ Came to a synthetic male voice as a blue spark appeared on the holo-table.

Charker smiled at his Militaris Machine Spirit, Rheago. "Ah, my dear Rheago. Where in the blazes were you the whole time? I had to do everything myself."

"_I was sleeping."_

Charker raised an eyebrow at his response. "You slept through an _entire_ battle in this very ship without noticing?"

"Y_es I did,"_ Rheago responded in a bored voice.

Charker sighed while rubbing his forehead from his machine spirit's antics. Whoever designed Rheago into existence must've really wanted to make someone's life miserable with these antics. He debated if he should teach Rheago a lesson by locking him in a data crystal and jettisoning him through an airlock and maroon him space for say a century before returning back for him to see if he learned his lesson. The idea was quickly shot down as he remembered that Rheago could just place himself in a suspension to pass time without going crazy.

"Never mind, what is the Covenant armada doing?" Asked Charker, hoping to change the subject to save himself a headache.

"_Auspex scanners are indicating most of the Covenant fleet are holding over one hundred and eighty thousand kilometers from our position and are taking defensive formations near the planet's equator. The patrol group we wiped out had successfully warned them of our presence in the system."_ Rheago said, his voice having changed to a serious tone.

"What's done is done. There is nothing we can do about it. However, activate the sensor reflectors, I want them guessing what I have in my fleet until they can see with their own eyes." Charker spoke grimly as he inspected his fleet schematics closely in the holo-table. His squadron composed of his only Retribution-Battleship flagship, something he was thankful of since most Squadron fleets are not given access to battleships. Four Oberon-Battlecruisers accompanied the fleet, serving as heavy artillery ships and damage-sponges for most of the fleet seeing that they were both heavily armored and their offensive capabilities were quite powerful. Fifteen cruisers comprised the backbone of his fleet: six Marathon-Heavy cruisers for their impressive armament that they carried and nine Dauntless-Light cruisers to provide protection for the larger capital warships and utilize their speed to outmaneuver the larger enemy ships. Of his support, three Avedon-Light carriers accompanied his fleet to bolster his wings of the void craft. The transports stood far back from the battle with several light frigate escorts alongside the two Spartan ships guarding them.

Of his screen ships, fifteen Harrier-Destroyers were brought to defend the flanks of his fleet from potential counter-attacks, eliminate the enemy's own screen ships, and swarm any capital ships caught alone from the main group. Around forty Frigates were included in his fleet: nineteen Firestorm-Heavy frigates to serve as heavy escorts for the capital ships in his group, and twenty-one Charon-Light frigates defend against hostile void crafts and other screen ships. Seventy-eight warships under his command that make up Squadron Fleet Memphis.

Before he had left his fleet's home port in the Fortress world of Primus Vespa for Corverus, Naval Command (NAVCOM) had assigned him two Aries-Troopships holding the II and IV Corps of the II Corverus Army and a single Fallen-Troopship with First Division of the First Corverus Marine Corps to transport and protect. Also joining them is a Mecha-Transport holding Legion Asterux and the Battle Barge _Metallus_ and Lunar-Cruiser _Orion_ of the Spartan Astartes Aurora Chapter, Ultraspartans Legion, bringing with them several companies for support.

Opposing them was a larger but surely bloodied Covenant armada. Charker's main concern was the CVO-Assault Carrier that seemed to serve as the flagship of the armada and the seven CCO-Assault cruisers that flanked it, knowing that most of these ships posed a significant danger to his capital ships thanks to their heavy use of plasma weaponry and impressive shields. Nine CSC-Battlecruisers, fifteen CCS-Cruisers, and seventeen CSS-Light cruisers formed the backbone of the invasion fleet and would prove problematic to solve. Of the screen ships, twelve CPV-Destroyers, twenty CVS-Heavy frigates, twenty-four CSV-Frigates, and twenty-seven CSP-Corvettes were deployed aggressively around most of the fleet.

Far behind and away from the armada stood a single CSO-Carrier with ten CPV-Destroyers and thirteen CSV-Frigates escorts. He suspected they were to guard the backs of the ground invasion but he couldn't be sure.

Charker straightened himself as he made eye contact with every on the bridge. "Inform the squadron to burn their plasma reactors at eighty-five percent and assume assault formation V."

The Squadron Memphis soon began moving into position with the battleship and battlecruisers taking charge of the rearguard with the carriers as the fleet's heavy support with each escorted by squads of four heavy frigates. Two-thirds of the heavy cruisers took their place in the center of the formation with a third of the light frigates surrounding them. Most of the light cruisers and remaining heavy frigates moved to the flanks of the fleet and the forward positions of the vanguard while the destroyers and the remaining light frigates clustered together in small wolf packs. The two Spartan ships assisting his fleet took positions alongside the transports far back from the fleet with several light frigate escorts. Slowly, the fleet crossed the vast distance separating them from the Covenant armada.

"Sir, the enemy fleet is now completely within the range of our weapons. Shall we commence fire?" announced the Gunnery Chief from his holo-cogitator.

"Good," responded Charker and connected to the fleet. "All ships, fire your lance batteries and nova cannons at the enemy! Target their forward screen ships. Show no mercy!"

Suddenly, turrets of different sizes mounted on the warships began firing high-powered beams of concentrated crimson energy at the Covenant fleet. Despite the large distance separating them, the beams crossed it in a blink of an eye and splashed across the shields of the enemy ships. Many of the screen ships' shields faltered under the immense power of the beams, resulting in numerous corvettes and frigates reduced to shattered husks or gravely damaged to become a liability. For the larger warships, immense cannons protruding below their heavily armored bows fired massive shells the size of small skyscrapers. The oversize shells smashed through shields and armor with ridiculous ease thanks to their mass and detonated their fusion cores once embedded inside their target, destroying several ships and heavily damaging much more.

Seeing the first several volleys achieve a measure of success, he turned to his Communicator Chief. "Have the wolf packs A and D with five of our heavy cruisers detach from the fleet and dive below the orbital plane of the system. They are to wait for my signal to attack the Covenant fleet from below." The officer acknowledged the order and it wasn't long until the holo-table displayed the respective ships break away from his fleet and make a sharp ninety-degree angle dive while cloaking their forms into the background of the void.

His attention was drawn from his ships back once more to the Covenant to see them reorganize themselves in response to their losses with their heavy warships pushing forward to wash away the brunt of the attacks and return fire. Massive bluish-white beams of super-heated plasma crossed the void and cleaved through the weak shields and armor of his screen ships until they were nothing but molten hull left behind.

At the corner of his eyes, the small list appeared displaying his losses. [+Four Frigates destroyed. Six Frigates damaged at two-thirds capacity+]

He frowned at the losses, he could feel the thousands of souls of the men stationed on the ships pass away but knew their deaths were an unfortunate necessary for a battle to be won.

"What is our distance now Rheago?"

_"We now have roughly one hundred and thirty thousand kilometers separating us from each other. The Covenant fleet is moving forward to meet us. They're in range of our macrocannons turrets and lasbatteries."_ Replied Rheago.

Charker watched as more Covenant screens ships were destroyed from lance volleys with his sharing the same fate. [+Seven Frigates destroyed. Ten damaged at two-thirds capacity. Three Frigates damaged at one-third capacity. One Destroyer destroyed+]

"Have the Avedons launch their squadrons of fighters and bombers from their hangers and hold their position around their motherships. Captain, have _Starfall's_ missile silos ready for fire and arm the torpedoes."

"Consider it done, Rear-Admiral." Said the Captain.

"Alright then," Charker spoke under his breath and linked once more with the fleet. "All ships, fire at will!"

Suddenly, massive cannons lining the broadside hull sections of the Imperial capital warships lit up in fire at the opposing fleet. Great shells the size of multiple city blocks sailed through the void and smashed into shields with much kinetic force. Lasbatteries fired with extreme precision, cutting through weak points in enemy shields and armor through multiple shots.

He could see the Covenant quickly respond with beams of scarlet energy, the super-heated plasma boiling through shields and armor alike. Plasma cannons fired their ammunition of ionized plasma, the large bolts tracking their targets through the void and crashing into the hulls of his ships.

The largest Covenant ships powered up energy in specific areas dotting the hull before unleashing energy projectiles upon his fleet. Several of the Imperial ships were completely bisected in half with others simply gutted through or vaporized. Plasma torpedoes were launched in mass and like the large plasma bolts, homed in their targets, boiling through meters of armor and gutting them in vulnerable sections. Particle cannons quickly joined in the fray, the beams of molecular particles shattering the hulls of ships and razing entire hulls away from existence.

"Have the fleet fire their first four Hydra missile silos and order the void craft to follow behind them as cover." He demanded as he watched the losses increase in his fleet.

Pillars of fire erupted across the decks of the ships as large cylinder objects rise from their silos en-mass and into the cold depths of the void. Soon, dozens of these pods flew from the Imperial fleet and towards the Covenant. Just as their scanners acknowledged their appearance, the pods suddenly split opened to each release over two dozen missiles from their racks and into space. Pulse rounds by the hundreds scoured the void accompanied with globes of explosions as the missiles danced through the flak fire. In the end, there was simply too many of these missiles.

Dozens upon dozens of explosions appeared across the Covenant fleet as multiple ships were destroyed or found entire sections of their hull completely missing and rather crippled in the void. Then the void craft soon swooped in from behind the missiles now that the main enemy ships were distracted, allowing the bombers to strafe capital ships with their guided bombs.

The Covenant quickly responded by launching their own compliment of void craft to intercept the Imperials, leading to an all-out dogfight between both sides as fighters danced around each other.

_"Sixty thousand and three hundred kilometers now separate us from them,"_ Rheago announced.

"Captain, present broadside strike on cruisers LC4, LC5, and LC7," Charker ordered, not taking his eyes off the holo-table.

"Understood." He responded, and looked to the helmsmen. "Engage retro-burners on the left stern and right bow, push us at negative twelve degrees downwards."

Following the command, a shift could be felt in the hull as the massive battleship rotated on the desired orders until its broadside was presented to the three, targeted cruisers. "Macrocannons decks A1 through A6 fire on target LC4. Decks A7 through A12 fire at target LC5. Decks B1 through B6 fire on target LC7."

At each command, the entire port side of the battleship erupted in fire as the shells soared through the void and smashed into the light cruisers. The shells plowed through the shields, crumpling them under the intensive kinetic force and burrowing in the armor. Entire sections of the ships exploded in brilliant light as the shells detonated, ripping all three to pieces.

"Communicator, is the second group ready?" He asked while looking at the casualty list. [+Nineteen Frigates Destroyed. Eight Destroyers destroyed. Three Cruisers destroyed. One Battlecruiser damaged at two-thirds capacity. Two Cruisers damaged at two-thirds capacity. Ten Frigates damaged at two-thirds capacity. Two Destroyers damaged at two-thirds capacity. Four Frigates damaged at one-third capacity. One Destroyer damaged at one-third capacity. One Cruiser damaged at one-third capacity. Three Void Craft Squadrons destroyed. Five Void Craft Squadrons below two-thirds combat efficiency+]

He needed to change the odds for his fleet and Corverus.

The Communicator looked closely in the holo-cogitator and turned back at the Rear-Admiral. "They are transmitting green, sir!"

"Good!" He smiled at the news. "Signal them to begin the attack. Have the battlecruisers fire on their desired targets for softening!"

Not too soon, the four battlecruisers fired their lance batteries at three of the CCOs and five of the CSCs, damaging their shields but refraining from firing further, instead of switching their targets for easier prey. Before the Covenant could ponder on the action, three of their heavy cruisers and one of the battlecruisers immediately exploded as nova shells tore through their undersides. Six corvettes quickly followed suit in meeting their ends from below as five heavy Imperial cruisers and two wolf packs deactivated their camouflage, the necessity of hiding in the background no longer useful.

Charker smiled as he watched the Covenant fleet slightly panic at the appearance of an ambush fleet directly from below, their flanks completely exposed for counter-strikes. He had them slightly boxed in.

"Helmsmen, increase the reactor output to ninety-two percent and aim for the CVO-Assault carrier and order the battlecruisers to do the same." He ordered.

Many of the crew temporally stopped in their tasks and turn to look at their Rear-Admiral with bewildering gazes on this...questionable order.

He frowned rather tightly at the response and growled under his breath. "Did I stutter men? Have it executed!" The crew was quick to obey his commands and imputed them into the holo-cogitators without hesitation.

The large battleship slowly shifted in the direction of the assault carrier, its weapon batteries finishing off the CSC it had been previously fighting with several well-placed energy beams, causing its reactor to explode. Not far behind it, the four battlecruisers followed the flagship, their own batteries continuing to blast at any enemy warships in their line of fire.

Their action didn't go unnoticed with the immense size of the assault carrier moving in the answer to their challenge. The surviving assault cruisers and battlecruisers attempted to join their flagship but halted as another CCO exploded from several lance beams from the Imperial below and a CSC lost power to its engines.

Deep inside the battleship, underneath the rivets and wires in the hull, a mechanical conscious growled as it felt hot plasma wash over its mental field. It knew that such weak weapons could not pierce its shields but that didn't mean it was annoying to him. The opposing ships had no strong spirits, their conscious felt rather weak and pathetic in comparison to his. They stood no chance to his might, for he was the strongest of the spirits born in the metal of the host of Memphis. It was he, _Starfall_, who led his brothers alongside his companion-captain through the void.

He suddenly snarled in anger as he sensed _Relentless_ die in a shower of fire, his brother's heart giving out and fracturing apart. He could hear his cry fade in the void alongside others who have fallen already. In his mind, where the web of his nerves began and ended, he sensed his companion-captain compel him to aim for the largest of the lesser spirits. He could hear the Voice of Memphis command four of his brothers to travel with him to destroy the opposing Voice of the enemy's spirits, to break their moral. He snorted when he heard the Memory Spirit speak to the Voice, his dry tone not amusing _Starfall_ at the slightest bit. He could never understand why the Prime Movers created this race of spirits if they only behaved as a facsimile of themselves, but he would not question them.

By the great spirit of Omnissiah, the Deus Mechanicus of the spirits, he will see it done. He will see his fallen brethren avenged and their bodies recovered to be reborn with new spirits and the Voice of his foes silenced forever.

He paused as he sensed his Master of Weapons input orders to redirect his tools of destruction towards the larger lesser spirit that housed the enemy Voice. He knew what he had been asked and obeyed, willing his weapons to move and aim with the guidance of the Weapon Controllers.

The battleship's lance batteries roared to life as they launched condensed plasma at the assault carrier. Sections of the shield flared in light blue as the plasma splashed across them, weakening them. The broadside macrocannons fired in volleys, the combined firing tearing through the weakened shields and smashing into the armor plating. The smaller mass drives and onegar cannons quickly joined in peppering and exposing the hull of the assault carrier to the void.

The assault carrier, however, didn't stay idle and responded with energy projectiles spinning in action and firing, burning down _Starfall's _shields. Volleys of plasma and particle cannons followed through the opening, crashing down across the shield and creating breaches in it. Plasma torpedoes were launched en mass, the magnetized plasma boiling through the meters of armor and decks.

Flinching under the burning feeling of plasma boiling through his hull, _Starfall_ however 'grinned' as he sensed his four brothers close in around the large lesser spirit, their weapons firing away at their exposed foe.

Together, they began taking down the assault carrier piece by piece even when one of the battlecruisers was speared through with two projectile and left drifting dead in the void. Explosions were appearing everywhere in the hull of the Covenant ship as sections of the hull were crumbling until with a great explosion, the entire prow disappeared in a ball of plasma, its weapon batteries having been compromised.

This destruction of the flagship and the death of their Fleetmaster broke what remained of the Covenant fleet, causing them to break free from the battle and retreat to where the second fleet was holding position above the planet.

"Sir, the enemy fleet is being routed." Reported one of the ensigns.

Charker gave a faint smile. "Very well, have the transports move through the largest gaps and start their deployment." While he knew he should be happy like the rest of the crew, there was still the matter of CSO-Carrier and her escorts sitting idle as the remains of the armada joined them in their standoff against his. It was unknown what they were up to and that was something he didn't like about. For all he knew, they were waiting for an opportunity to strike his transports.

"Have wolf packs B and E escort the troopships to the atmosphere. I don't trust those Covenant survivors as far as I can blast them to stay away. Tell the Spartan's they are free to deploy in the battle."

The selected wolf packs broke off from the squadron and moved alongside the transports and Spartan ships that were steadily approaching the planet's surface. While the two Aries and Mecha activated their thrusters upon starting their descent in order to slow down, the Fallen-troopship continued speeding forward without slowly down as it began entering the atmosphere of the planet and heading for the heaviest fighting.

As the Fallen's heat shield warded off the built up heat from atmospheric entry and the crew navigated it to a perfect location, bowels of the troopship became a source of frenzy. The men of First Division of the Corverus Marine Corps were running around, checking their equipment and doing what any good marine would do right before a battle, create an organized chaos.

"What are you walking around for, pimps? A dancing moment with your girlfriends? Double-time your paces NOW before I introduce your lovely asses to my foot! Hollered a Marine officer to several men who were now moving faster after hearing their officer's "encouragement". Everywhere, marines were double-checking, triple-checking, and quadruple-checking their gear without missing a beat. Field General Icarus had informed the division that they'll be crash-landing where the fighting is at its thickest. Even better was the fact that the Field General had requested the crew to land them in battle "with style". In other words, give the Covenant a nasty surprise they'll never forget.

Right now, all the marines were assembling at large doors that would collapse down the moment the troopships comes to a stop after crashing. Surrounding each gate were crash seats to ensure no one was injured from the crash and allow them to evacuate the ship as quickly as possible. Loud static was heard by the loudspeakers before a voice broke, "**We'll be approaching Landing Zone in five minutes. Ready yourselves for we'll be coming down hard and fast**." Concluding, the loudspeakers began a countdown per minute as the ship began shaking from enemy anti-aircraft guns attempting to bring the reinforcements down.

"Alright, listen up everyone." Announced a Major as he walked in front of his men. "We're going to be heading for our capital city Hysandi. The Armageddon Steel Division along with our PDF has been holding out for a while but they can't keep up the pressure. We are going to help take off pressure for them by attacking the Covenant's unprotected flanks. Any questions?" He looked around the men for any raised hands.

One hand rose up, which the major noticed quickly that it came from a young marine, probably hadn't reached over hundred years yet. "You there. What do you want to ask?"

He seemed slightly nervous about his question. "Sir, what about the scarabs and locusts? Won't they tear apart our forces? We don't have anything capable of taking those behemoths down in good time." His questioned brought a lot of nods in agreement to the young man's question.

The major allowed a grin to form on his face. "No need to worry about that. Mecha Legion Asterux will handle the enemy titans while we worry about the ground forces."

**... ... ...**

The Mecha-Transport _Feraxis_

Deep within the hull of the Mecha-Transport, a massive hanger bay filled most of the ship as it held titans of all classes in large harnesses as they towered over everyone in the room. The hanger was a sight of frenzy as enginseers and techmarines made their final system checks before allowing the pilots to enter their machines. After all, it would be embarrassing for a titan pilot to have his machine malfunction during battle simply because one of the magos accidently overlooked a spot.

Titan Pilot Rodriguez placed his helmet on as it clamped down with his suit and connected his neural system with the suit's neural circuits, thus making the suit feel like another layer of skin. He entered the hatch of his Warhound titan, the _Typhon_, in its head as it housed the cockpit for the pilot and its crew of two operators. In the center of the small room, he could see the harness where he would link with the titan and command it from there hanging empty in the air. In front of the harness and below were two seats surrounding by cogitators and other vital machinery used to monitor the titan's systems and control it. He watched as an enginseer was making the last check on the system before appearing satisfied. He turned around and noticed the pilot of the titan waiting for him.

The voice of the Mechanicus member came our slightly raspy. "I have made the final checks and adjustments pilot. Your machine spirit waits for you for the linking."

"Thank you very much enginseer."

Behind him, two more people, one man, and one woman entered the small room. Both gave a nod of greeting before taking their place in the seats and strapping themselves in. Taking a huff of breath, he walked over to a platform towards the harness with the enginseer standing at attention and ready to assist. Gently, he placed his arms and legs in their respective areas of the harness, feeling clamps lock around his limbs tightly. He heard the enginseer speak under a hushed tone as he moved the rest of the harness to connect with his body, locking in his torso and head so he wouldn't be able to thrash in it. Taking in one last breath, he could hear a slight whir of a machine from behind as the neural device in the headset moved and rested on the back of his head. Without warning, tiny wires connected with his neural port and he felt a harsh cold feeling passing down his spine and throughout the body. He felt his mind expand while his body felt like it was morphing and twisting into a new shape, signaling the linkage between titan and pilot was working.

The entire process lasted more than two minutes before it ended and left him panting slightly from the mental procedure. Even though he has been doing this for over three hundred years since he first joined the Mechas, he could never become accustomed to this feeling. He recalled an advice a veteran pilot once said to him back when he was barely the age of fifty and was a newly recruit. 'The linkage between organic and machine was something no one could ever become used to no matter how long they serve. Both are different yet the same but neither can each understand one another.' _'Pretty good advice if I say so myself.'_ He thought.

He knew from countless experience that it would take minutes for the neural link to solidify and knew how to spent the extra time. "Valentín and Irina, commence system checks like usual." Both operators acknowledged the order and typed away on their screens. At the same time, he reviewed the orders he and the rest of the legion had received once last time. The orders had been to provide heavy support for the Corverus army spearheading the main assault and hunt down the Covenant Scarab that had been deployed and were currently crushing Imperial defenses.

"Rodriguez, all systems are green. We are good to go once the Princeps gives the command." Irina announced from her seat.

As though acknowledging her statement, the Princep's voice echoed in everyone's head. _"Pilots, this is the Princep speaking. We will be touching down soon near Hysandi. Sentinel pilots, make your final preparations and be ready to be dropped from the sky to secure our landing zone. Everyone else, keep put."_

He was so caught up listening to his commander's voice that he almost failed to notice a deep klaxon blaring an interval of five seconds. He recognized the alarm for its one use, signaling the opening of the small hanger doors below. Loudspeakers were ringing with orders of all personals to exit the hanger before the doors start opening. Minutes later, the klaxon became louder as a deep rumbled was heard as the series of doors slowly opened to the sky below. Despite the fact he was inside a sealed environment and link was not complete yet, what he currently had still allowed him feel the wind swarm across his metal skin and whisper through his pistons of his limbs.

At the same time above the hanger of the transport, the bridge crew were making their own preparations for a safe drop and landing later for the rest of the legion. The captain of the ship was busy reviewing the state of his ship until he lifted his head and asked, "what's the altitude?"

A crewman turned away from his cogitator to the captain. "We're at twenty-seven thousand meters and decreasing. The ship will soon reach the respective height."

"Very good then." He faced another crewman. "Has everyone cleared the hanger bays?" He received an affirmative. "Good, open the doors and ready the titans."

"We're at twenty-five thousand meters sir!" Yelled the crewman from before.

"Understood. Get ready to release the titans." He responded.

"Twenty-one thousand and five hundred meters…"

Crewmen began shuffling around the bridge to their stations.

"Nineteen thousand and eight hundred meters…"

The flag-lieutenant of the ships opened up a panel that brought up a holo-screen with a large button indicator with the label: Titan Launch on it.

"Seventeen thousand and three hundred meters…"

The flag lieutenant's hand hovered above the button has he waited for the right moment.

"…Sixteen thousand meters! He yelled louder than before. The flag-lieutenant immediately slammed his hand on the hard light screen where the button sat.

Rodriguez was resting his eyes as he waited for the drop phase to commence when he opened his eyes upon hearing groaning metal as he watched through the titan's visor the large harnesses holding the Sentinel titans shifted lower before a long drawn-out alarm blared its single note. The harnesses holding the small titans suddenly released them and he watched them drop through the opened doors.

The visor of his titan soon became fully active as readings began appearing across the screen, most importantly the altitude meter showing how fast he was reaching ground level. A synthetic voice spoke up in the neural link, +_Titan Protocols initiating…/+_

"Activating core reactor." Valentín spoke out loud. "Unlocking all power nodes and routing them to the systems."

Irina took a holoscreen and expanded it before typing commands in it. "Final link between man and machine commencing in three...two...one...now!"

Rodriguez's body seized as the link was solidified to the titan, the harness holding his body tightly and preventing him from harming himself. He felt a large mechanical presence enter his mind and meld with together. He could feel the primal urge of the machine spirit threatening to overtake his thought processing and break his resolve. Knowing he could not let the titan place itself in control, he gathered up his will and drove it into the mindset of the machine. He battered aside its own thought process and held it down. _'Obey my command and will.'_

The mind battle continued for several minutes until he managed to subdue it and lock it down. He then tethered it to his mind to ensure the machine spirit couldn't slip underneath him and take control of the titan. The process was something both did every time whenever the connection was made and the ending was always the same.

"Titan link successful." Irina announced once more. "No signs of malfunction or threats to the system. We are good to go."

They were indeed good now. He could feel the steady thrum of the reactor underneath him spread the energy to the rest of the titan, activating the hydraulic pistons, servos, and gears needed to move the massive war machine step by step.

"Weapon systems are operational and loaded." Spoke Valentín from his terminal. "All parts of the titan are functioning at one-hundred capacity and show no signs of damage or wear."

Before he could respond to them, the hanger shook slightly as loud 'clamps' were heard outside the hull and all the titan's were lowered to the floor by their harnesses. Suddenly, a decorated helmet appeared on the left side of the visor who Rodriguez recognized as Princep Medivero, his commanding officer of Titan Legion Asterux.

_"The landing zone has been secured. __All titans sound off and be ready to deploy."_ Ordered the Princep. _"Titan Steel Shield aye…Titan Stonebreaker aye…Titan Gigantean aye…Titan Star Bearer aye…Titan Stormbringer aye…Titan Jaguar aye…Titan Ironhorn aye…Titan Broken Sword aye…"_ and it went on as all eighteen titans sounded until he became last, _…Titan Dawnlight aye…Titan Typhoon aye."_ Rodriguez responded lastly to his commander.

Grinding metal was heard as the massive doors standing at the front to the hanger slowly opened to the land outside and lowered a ramp. One by one, titans were released from their harnesses and steadily marched forward to the exit. It was not long until Rodriguez was next in the line and felt the harness release him to the ground, causing his titan to bend slightly forward.

Willing the machine to move forward, the familiar sound of pistons shifting was music to his ears as the titan took a step forward, a loud 'clang' echoing through the hanger followed by another and another with each step. Slowly but surely, the titan picked up speed as more titans behind him more released from their harnesses and marched down the hanger.

Rodriguez watched as the visor polarized slightly under the glaring light of Holderus once he stepped down the ramp and unto the earth. Around him, various other titans spread themselves outwards from the transport, keeping an eye out for signs of imminent danger.

"_Mecha __Legion Asterux, move out to Hysandi City. Our primary objective is the provide support the main assault until the rest of the force finishes deploying. Our second will be to eliminate any enemy heavy armor that comes in a our path."_ Informed the Princep to his legion while the massive frame of his Imperator stomped out of the hanger. Rodriguez could feel the eagerness of the machine spirit wanting to face the battle with its enemy and feel the sensation of its weapons firing away and spelling doom to its targets.

_"Gigantean, take one-third of the legion and march northeast to support the vanguard push of the Corverus marines. Ironhorn, take a third with you and push for the western flanks for artillery support. The rest of you will follow me, we'll push through the center and disrupt the Covenant invasion through the districts."_

Slowly the legion of war machines marched towards the city and split themselves up, their heavy footsteps creating small impacts on the ground while leaving large imprints of their feet. War was calling to them and they were coming to answer the call as the massive Imperator titan in the lead blared a mechanical roared, declaring a challenge to anything foolish enough to face it and the legion in battle.

* * *

_(1)* Ruinous__ Powers Codex:_

_Unknown Name, The Twister of Daggers_: from records gathered with this Chaos God, the Twister of Daggers is considered by the Pantheon in the Realm of Souls as a Minor Chaos God below those of the Major and higher than the Lesser. His name remains unknown outside the realm on part of his servants never speaking his name, only mentioning his title instead. He represents the aspects of intelligent lifeform's betrayal, selfishness, egocentric, and uncaring. Contrary to what popular belief will have, Tzeentch, the Changer of Ways does not represent these traits, only encourages them. As expected of such name, all his followers are composed of traitors, liars, greedy, and cruelty.

The Greater Daemons who serve the Twister of Daggers are known as the Formless Shapers due to the fact none of them have a permanent shape and those who do indeed take a form only have it temporally until it has served its purpose. The Formless Shapers are considered to be one of the deadliest Greater Daemons to be faced in combat, while this may seem strange for a servant of a Minor God to be stronger than the Major ones, it mostly has to do with their aspect. A Formless Shaper fights with his mind, using it to dig into the minds of their opponents around their defenses not to possess but to read. Records indicate they will dredge up anything that relates to a grudge, resentment, dissatisfaction, and other similar emotions regardless of how potent it is and weave it into something of greater intensity that it becomes dangerous. This method of attack is to be considered to be extremely dangerous to _any groups_ who face this daemon regardless of how much faith they have in each other, for it is a matter of time **[+Longest time resisted: 16.7714 minutes]** before they turn on each other over petty reasons that now have become problems. If taking one in service, one must remember to never let your guard down in its presence regardless of where you are, for it will take the best opportunity to betray you in the most unexpected method or manner even if seems a terrible one such as in front of your loyal men for they will gain something from it and not you.

**[+First suspected encounter of Formless Shaper in Sub-Sector Tercoln in 5.771.M35+]**

**[+Result: Six Reports of Colony Wars declared; Twelve Reports of Planetary Rebellions; Ten Reports of System Revolutions; Seventeen Reports of Open Planetary Uprisings against the authority of the Imperium; Seven Reports of Major Fleet Desertion; Twenty-Four Reports of Major Corps Desertion; Two Reports of Attempted Genocide; Eight Confirmed Reports of Chaos Incursions+]**

**[+Conclusion: Imperium deployed One Shield Fleet supported by Six Battlefleets, Thirty-Three Corps, One full Spartan Legion and Ten Chapters, Six Mecha Legions and countless other units to quell the Sub-Sector+]**

**[+Casualties: 15.72 Billion civilians, 509.4 Million military personal, Seven Planets declared EXTERMINATUS, Four Population Centers Purged, Daemon Status: Banished by Grey Knights for Nine Hundred Years+]**

The Lesser Daemons who serve him are referred as Apostate of Pledges that take the appearance of a shadowy figure with no define features, they serve as personal companions of Chaos Champions who use them to serve as living detectors of any type of potential betrayal amongst the ranks of followers. Each is well versed and knowledgeable in all forms of recognizing and executing betrayals.

The Sacred number is 16.

Records of his domain are unknown and location in the Realm of Souls is hidden from the view of outsiders.

Mark of the Twister of Daggers gives his followers the ability to recognize any potential dissent in his ranks and methods to ensure the outcome comes in his favor through usurps and backstabbing.

Gifts of the Twister of Daggers

_Daemonic Name:_ The Twister of Daggers presents his champion his true name in the Realm of Souls.

_Daemonic Weapon:_ a weapon is granted to a champion containing the essence of an Apostate of Pledges daemon.

_The face of the Twister of Daggers:_ a champion is gifted with the Twister of Dagger's visage that is unknown.

_Banner of Principal:_ a hanging orb that promotes an aurora away from the host, causing any enemies close by to slaughter each other in hatred or for any petty reason.

_Sword of Resentment:_ a bearer who wields this sword strikes with the will of the Twister of Daggers, a single cut capable of driving any victim mad with jealousy and ill will.

_Grievous Knife:_ a weapon capable of drawing the resentment of the wielder and channel it into a piercing attack capable of punching cleanly through the thickest armor and shields with ease.

_The Face of a Formless Shaper:_ a bearer features the face of a Formless Shaper daemon.

_Crossbreed with an Apostate: _a champion becomes a hybrid of their original form and an Apostate of Pledge.*

_(2)_ *Be gone*

* * *

_**And here's chapter 4**_

_**I feel like I'm one of the handful of author's in the Sci-Fi world who actually have ships attack from below (No, attacking from a planet doesn't count because naturally, you are coming from below nor does simply being slightly above or below count also) and not horizontal despite the fact you freakin' have endless space to move around. Seriously, its ridiculous. Its the void, not a "space ocean". **_

_**In case you fail to understand how dangerous a Formless Shaper is to any group of heroes, to put it in perspective, those tiny prissy ponies from that little rainbow show who go on and on about "friendship is magic", I'd give them less than Three minutes before they're dead if the daemon was feeling merciful (Which isn't going to happen). Why must you ask? That's because it is the universal representation of EVERY, SINGLE species' emotions of betrayal and whatnot while the colorful ponies represent a nation (or planet, the hell I know). So pretty dangerous.**_

_**If GW ever releases a Skaven Faction (Backstabbing Rats in SPAAAAACE!) edition in the 40K universe, they would definitely fit the bill of being the Twister of Dagger's ideal champions because of their traitorous nature. **_

_**Reviews please (and reasonable criticism)**_

_**The battle for Corverus will finish in the next battle**_

_**Will the Imperium win or will the Covenant snatch victory? It's really hard to tell. **_

_**Find out next on Galaxia's Wars**_


	5. Chapter V

**AN: _I'm baaaaack guys!_**

_**But first let me answer some questions:**_

**mr I hate znt nobles kill em: _things could get worse in the future._**

**black light: _I might possibly add Gears of War world Sera as a lost human colony in the future chapters (or as a side story) since it would be a great story._**

**The Joining: _Thanks for some of the recommendation. You have no idea how many ideas I came up with that *sinister chuckle*. _**

**SPARTA-626: _not sure how I'll get around with the Sisters of Battle but I'll see what I can do. And for more HALO characters; Hood already made a small appearance in chapter 2 and will be making one in the next chapter. Johnson will show up in_**_ style with** explosions *grins with a maniac smile * . Keyes will show up later. Not sure about Lasky. Noble Team will be making an appearance, simply need to know when and how. Legion of the Damn will also show up in the story. A better way to say-it-all characters will show if I can cram them in. Thanks for reminding me of the 'brother' thing.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

* * *

**Battle for Corverus IV**

_Usually, the one way to tell if you're completely fraked would be if your opponent brought a really big gun to battle. To avoid that fate, bring a bigger gun than he did. If he happens to bring a bigger one than yours, bring a larger one. If that doesn't work, well there's a reason why we invented the word Exterminatus. _

_-Princep Jekar of Legion Valkanas after his legion faced the massive Ork Mega Gargants on Jericho IV._

* * *

**Core world Corverus**

**Fallen-Troopship **

**3.531 I.C**

"Everybody buckle up! Where going to making a nice crash landing in a few minutes." An officer yelled to everyone.

Men scrambled to their assigned crash seats and secured themselves for the rough landing. Vehicles were placed on standby as drivers set the engines of their machines ready. The moment the troopships touched the ground, the large doors will immediately open and allow the marines to rush out right into their enemy's surprised faces with bolt rifles blazing.

The transport rumbled as its thrusters kicked in to smooth the landing for everyone in the ship. Seconds ticked like hours to everyone for the crucial moment. Suddenly, everyone lurched in their seats as a loud crash proceeded by a grinding noise was heard in the background, signaling that the transport has 'landed'. The grinding noise along with the rumbling of the ship lasted for a number of seconds before coming to a halt.

Marines quickly unstrapped themselves and their gear before facing the doors. An alarm immediately rang shortly answer with green lights appearing on the sides of the large doors. Explosions were heard as the doors instantly collapsed forward, allowing the Corverus Marines to see their home planet again except for the fact that there were enemies milling on their home.

The Marines yelled battle cries as they charged through the collapsed doors and outside where Covenant soldiers were busy trying to shake off their dizziness of being next to a large object crashing on the surface. A few were able to snap out of this state and start firing but unfortunately for them, they were too few. The marines began firing their weapons to take full advantage of their enemy's weakness and started inflicting casualties.

Leading at the front of the charges were Veteran Marine Terminators as their wrist-mounted storm bolters and other chosen weapons brought death among the enemy. Directly behind them came marines carrying Storm Shields in order to protect the men behind them from enemy fire until they gained a foothold. Covering their charge was the transport's defenses as tracer turrets and the few lasbatteries racked the Covenant ranks in order to buy more time for the marines to fully exit. Enemy return fire soon increased as more snapped out and responded to the presence of enemy soldiers. The air soon became a blur of bolt rounds and plasma charges flying everywhere as soldiers simply fired where the enemy was and not where the individual is.

Soon enough, all the marines had exited the ship and were fighting. The roar of engines joined the battle as vehicles ranging from Grizzly tanks to Land Warthogs raced out of the bays and contributed their heavy fire. With this added support, the Covenant ranks broke and scattered under the withering fire of the 1st Corverus Marines Corps. By the time everyone had left the transport, a large foothold had been taken for the main force to land in.

A marine officer, whose uniform denoted his rank as a Field General, had watched the battle from the bridge. He turned to the communication officers, "inform the rest of the transports that Objective A has been completed and B is a go."

"Yes, sir!" Acknowledged the man before turning back to the holo-cogitator.

Above the and away from the Fallen-troopship, the Aries slowly but increasingly began moving towards the foothold to unload the rest of the army still remaining in its bays.

**... ... ...**

Titan Legion Asterux

The sight of seeing an entire legion of titans marching to battle would've sent anyone with common sense running for cover and praying that they aren't found. Luckily for many of the Covenant patrols, the Asterux weren't interested in these small groups seeing as they have a bigger target to hunt down. While the legion was more than capable of handling 2 scarabs and several locusts with ease, it didn't hurt to be cautious when enemy walkers tend to be very agile and mobile compared to yours in combat and always took full advantage of that fact.

The Legion Asterux has been marching for several hours towards Hysandi City where reports indicated the presence of Covenant walkers on the planet.

"_Jaguar to Steel Shield, we are closing in on the city. Am witnessing the remains of the previous fighting."_

"_Affirmative. Can you locate the walkers Jaguar?"_

"_Negative Steel Shield. Walkers are not in sight, I repeat. Walkers are not in sight. Damage to infrastructure indicates their presence here before our arrival. Wherever they are, it's not here."_

"_Damn! I was hoping this wouldn't happen. They're avoiding us since we're all together."_

"_What do we do exactly ?"_

"_We're going to have to split up, even though that's what the enemy wants us to do. Stonebreaker and Stormbringer, take each a group with you and began covering the city for those walkers and supporting our guys. Broken Sword, take a few titans with you and find our Sentinel fellows in the city. Understood everyone?"_

Princep Medivero received acknowledgments from everyone before signing off and taking his team with him. The legion slowly broke up into groups as they split up and took off into different directions.

Rodriguez trudged his Warhound behind the large size of the Imperator designated as Stormbringer as the veteran pilot of the behemoth machine led a group composed of an Imperator, 3 Warhounds, 4 Chassis, and 2 Mantises. The group mostly focused more on firepower than mobility compared to the other groups. Titan Legions can vary on what titans they have: some legions focused a lot on mobility, leaving them with mostly Sentinels and Mantises in their ranks. Several prefer firepower, meaning they have large numbers of Imperators and Warhounds. Others would use flexible tactics, fielding Chassis in large numbers with Warhounds as their heavies and Mantises as shock machines. However, large numbers of legions like his tend to be multi-tactical when employing titans by using every class in the battle.

He occasionally looked at his scanners to make sure no one was sneaking behind them while his group cautiously moved through the city. While Scarabs were pretty large, they can be surprisingly quiet when slowly approaching from behind target.

"_Stormbringer! This is Maleficent speaking. We have something big on the scanners and its heading for us!"_

"_How large!"_

"_Around 55 meters, give or take! It's moving really fast for something that big!"_

"_Its one of the Scarabs! Everyone, watch your sixes. Maleficent, where is it?"_

"_Around 300 meters to our left and closing in fast."_ From the scanners of everyone, they could see a large blob approaching them. He could see that the guy wasn't kidding, the Scarab was indeed moving really fast despite its size.

By knowing the entire group could hear rumbling and the increasing sound of something large smashing a path of destruction through the city to reach them. They all turned to the left and steeled themselves for the incoming storm. Rodriguez could still remember the stories of pilots who fought Scarabs describe them as a dangerous opponent a titan could face on the battlefield. As fast as a Mantis and nearly ruthless like a Warhound, it was the kind of enemy not to trifle with.

The sound of destruction become louder as their target became closer until it all of a sudden stopped. Surprised, he checked his scanners and became shocked with the fact that their target disappeared from the scanners.

"_Uuuhhhhh…where did it go?"_ Questioned one of the Chassis pilots.

They quickly got their answer when one of the buildings suddenly collapsed in their direction.

"_Everyone BREAK!"_ Came the voice of the veteran.

All the titans immediately moved aside with the exception of one of the Warhounds that was too close and couldn't dodge the falling mass. The building looked about to crush the machine before it lifted its arms and caught the building. The armored feet of the Warhound caved into the ground from the heavy weight of the building as the servos of the machine desperately tried to prevent the titan from being crushed.

"_W-what are you w-waiting for? I c-can't hold t-this thing f-forever!"_ This was furthered proved as the titan's legs began digging deeper into the ground while the arms started lowering from the immense weight.

"_Hold on. We'll get it off you…SCARAB!"_ The veteran's yell rattled everyone's ears from the vox.

Their Scarab appeared itself in front of them. Unfortunately, it decided to appear on top of the building, which happened to be the one trying to crush their fellow titan. However, the added weight soon proved too much for the trapped Warhound to handle and collapsed under the pressure, effectively being crushed.

"_Titan Felixian is down! That bastard!"_ Rodriguez didn't know who of the group said that. Either way, he didn't care now. Not since his blood was boiling at the fact that one of their titans was taken out in the most cowardly way without a fight. The nearest titans to the walker charged and raised their guns to bear.

The walker moved quickly at its opponents by using the momentum of the fallen building to catapult it to the nearest titan, a Chassis. Before the titan could react, the Scarab crashed into it. The pilot responded this action by digging its feet into the ground for support while lifting its plascannons to the walker and charging a shot. In a split second, the walker lifted one of its legs and pinned the arm just as the plascannon fired, scorching the ground instead. The Scarab brought its other leg and used its claw to grab the head of the chassis. The rest of the group could hear the panicking screams of the pilot as the claw slowly crushed the head and ripped it from the body. The body of the titan froze with the loss of the command cockpit as it started tipping over. The Scarab finished the Chassis by taking the claw with the crushed head and proceeded to smash it into the head in the chest, caving it in and destroying its reactor.

"_NO, High Born!"_ Cried in anguish one of the pilots. The rest of the group stared in shock at the death of one of their titans. That shock soon quickly changed to fury as all the pilots raged in an indescribable anger. _"Take down that bastard NOW! Grind it to dust! Let its death screams echo across the landscape!"_ Roared the veteran to the rest of the group. He didn't need to encourage them since everyone wanted to shred the walker to pieces.

The other Warhound pointed its volcano cannon and fired the deadly beam at the Scarab. The walker scurried to the side, barley dodging the blast with nearly most of the shields taken out. One of the Mantises, the _Swift_, charged full speed while firing its melta cannon at his opponent to get its attention. It worked as the pilot hoped.

The Scarab fired it energy projectile at the Imperator, forcing the massive titan to brace itself for the shock of the blast. It quickly turned after several melta rounds damaged its front left leg and unloaded its ultra-plasma cannons at the smaller titan. The pilot expected that because he suddenly activated the thruster of his titan, sending the _Swift_ soaring over the plasma beam while still firing the melta at the Scarab. The walker gave a mechanical growl of frustration as it tried to bring the cannon once more at the titan. The Mantis switched its target and fired non-stop at the plasma cannon until it exploded. The Scarab roared in anger at the loss of its weapon and tried to rectify the problem with its energy projectile. Rodriguez saw that and put a stop to it by firing his unegar cannons at it, forcing the walker to divert its attention to him instead.

By taking its attention of the Mantis, it didn't notice the small titan from slamming unto its back and forcing into the ground. With a large gutter roar, the chainfist activated and the _Swift_ plunged it into the back of the Scarab to both open the armor and help keep the Mantis secured on its back. The walker let out a mechanical scream of pain as the chainfist tore through its armor. The Scarab started shaking itself violently in an attempt to get the opponent off of its back, which soon proved futile since the titan secured itself well on its back.

The _Swift _soon tore a chunk of the Scarab's armor off and quickly shoved the melta cannon into the breach and fired repeatedly without stopping. The walker gave off more screams as the melta damaged its insides severely and doubled its attempts of throwing the titan off. The rest of the group joined in taking the walker down slowly and painfully.

Rodriguez shot one of the back legs completely off, sending the walker crashing into the ground. The other Warhound poured round after round into the Scarab's 'face' where the projectile was located. One of the Chassis titans got too close to the walker in the pilot's eagerness for revenge. The Scarab lashed out with one of its remaining legs, knocking aside the titan. With that action, however, the walker was able to succeed in shaking off the _Swift _from its back but not before it tore more components of its body.

"_Quickly! Now's our chance to get rid of it!_ Shouted the pilot of _Swift. _The ground shook as the massive Imperator charged up to the fallen Scarab and with a single move, tour the hellstorm into its injury and fired. The Scarab screamed in pain as it tried lashing out against the Imperator, hoping to knock it down. Unfortunately for it, designers had known that the large size of the Imperator was its biggest weakness and that all it would take is something with enough force to knock it in order to let gravity do the rest of the work. They solved it by installing on it many grav-chute techs as possible. making sure that it would take a Fallen class at full speed to be able to knock it down. So a lash from the Scarab was next to nothing for the large titan.

The Imperator took its hellstorm cannon out of the body of the walker after unloading its charge. The Scarab gave a weak growl at the titan in defiance despite its position. The titan responded by lifting its massive foot and bringing it down on the head. It gave a final mechanical scream capable of shattering glass before the Imperator ended it with a twist of its foot, effectively crushing the head of the Scarab and killing it for good.

"_Target eliminated."_ Came the gruff voice of the veteran in the vox. _"Assess damage and the state of Felixian, we may still be able to save him!"_ Several of the titans began using their weapons to cut through the building and taking it apart while hoping he was still alive.

"_Sir, the Felixian is down. Most of the titan is crushed in many places and the pilot isn't responding to our hails. The cockpit is showing signs of heavy damage so it seems he was killed by that."_ One of the Chassis pilots reported to his superior.

Cursings were heard on the other end of the vox before the veteran was able to calm himself down. _"Very well, set a beacon down for the Feraxis to pick up their remains."_ He then switched channels on the vox to communicate to someone else. _"Princep? Do you copy?"_

There was silence for a few seconds before a response came through. _"Yes. I hear you load and clear. Report now."_

"_We've succeeded in taking down our target but at the loss of Felixian and High Born. The Feraxis will recover their remains."_

"_By the Stars of Orion, you seemed to have been lucky."_

"_Why's that?"_

"_Gigantean and his team had been ambushed by the last Scarab and what remained of the Locusts. His forces suffered several losses before they finally took them down."_

"_Well, thanks for the news. However, do you have orders for us?"_

"_I received news from the battlefield: the Covenant are slowly falling back to areas still under their control. I want you and your team to join the fight and prevent the Covenant from trying to evacuate their forces from this world. Understood?"_

"_Yes, sir."_

"_Good. You have your orders."_ The vox turned off as the Princep signed out. The veteran shifted his titan to face his team who were waiting for orders. _"The Princep has ordered us to head for the battle and assist the infantry in stopping the Covenant from trying to escape and effectively crush them at once. _

The Imperator started trudging forward through the city with the others tailing behind his as they headed for the battle.

**... ... ...**

Aries-Troopships _Lycia_ and _Uberno_

The two transports slowly touched the ground as their engines sputtered for a final time before loud thumps were heard as the landing gear hit the soft soil of the ground. Loud hissings were heard accompanied with the wiring of hydraulics as the massive doors opened and ramps were lowered unto the soil with a soft 'thud'.

Silence hung in the air before a new sound cut through. The sound of thousands of footsteps hitting the ground with rumbling vehicles was heard emitting from the transports until the armies came out. Ranks upon ranks of men came marching out in synchronization without missing a beat. Their light blue-armor with dark blue lines running diagonally on their chests glittering in the sun as their faceless helmets revealed grim expressions on their faces. Banners floated amongst the sea of men denoting their origins. Then the vehicles followed the men. The Baneblade tanks with their towering size and armed to teeth with weapons. The smaller Grizzly tanks following their larger cousins as their main cannons loaded up. Cobra destroyers trudged along with their projectors charging up. Land Warthogs brought up the rear of the groups. All in all, the armies of Corverus marched together towards the enemy to extract vengeance for their transgression. Above them, hundreds of dropships came roaring past them while accompanied with aircraft for support.

**... ... ...**

Valkyrie V-T105

Master-Sergeant Dekurius checked the chamber of his bolt rifle once more before slamming it shut. Around him, men of his platoon imitated similar actions with their own weapons as the dropship brought them closer to their destination on their home planet. Home, he never thought he ever come back here for many years. Now here he was, early and with uninvited guests making a mess of their place.

The craft started shaking with muffled explosions sounding off in the background. Looking through one of the small window slits of the Valkyrie, he could see outside plasma rounds exploding in the air around the dropships as pilot frantically moved their assets to dodge the incoming fire. He shielded his eyes as one of the Valkyries erupted in a ball of fire from a direct hit before its remains tumbled down to the ground below.

"Pilot, what's the ET to our destination?" Dekurius shouted to the Valkyrie pilot.

"ET is 40 seconds. Get yourselves ready," replied the pilot back. Suddenly, one of the plasma rounds exploded nearby, causing the dropship to shake uncontrollable before the pilot yanked the craft back in line. "Shutting the blast shields in!" Announced the pilot to everyone. The inside of the Valkyrie became dark as the blast shields locked in place before red lights bathed the room with an eerie glow.

"Everyone! Lock and load your weapons." Said Dekurius to his platoon. The unmistakable sound of guns clicking off their safeties and ammo clips slamming in place echoed across the sealed room.

"ET is 15 seconds!" Yelled the pilot to the back. "Get ready!"

The men began shuffling around to face the closed ramp in the back of the Valkyrie. 'Stormtroopers in the front and devastators in the back! In formation men." Dekurius ordered to everyone. Soldiers carrying their signature storm shields and storm bolters moved to the front of the group with their gear raised while the members of the devastators armed with heavy weapons stayed back for support. Silence hung in the air as everyone waited for the pilot's signal.

"We've landed! GO GO!" Yelled the pilot as the Valkyrie shuddered from touch down and the ramp opened to the outside world. The stormtroopers soon charged outside with their shields raised and their bolters firing while plasma struck their shields or passed overhead. The rest of the platoon filed out behind them with haste and started laying suppressing fire while the devastators warmed up their weapons. Other Imperial soldiers did similar actions as more dropships arrived and unloaded their compliment of men. All around Hysandi's outskirts, Imperial forces clashed with the Covenant forces.

Stormtrooper Hayden raised his adamantium-made shield as magnetized plasma scorched the metal. He snapped his bolter and fired off several shells at his enemy. Most were deflected by the shields of his foes and detonated with no effect while a few titanium-tipped ones cut through shieldless enemies and activated their cores that result in body parts flying apart.

From the corner of his eyesight, Hayden could see several Imperial soldiers being overwhelmed literally by Unggoys as their muffled curses were heard under the mass. He saw in another corner a Jiralhanae Chieftain swinging a large gravity hammer and sending broken bodies flying in the air while its bodyguards trialed behind with maulers and spiker rifles belching fire. Hayden witnessed a Sangheili Zealot cut and slash his way through Imperial ranks in a blur of action.

He brained a Storm Major with his shield when it got too close to him and emptied his clip at a Dome Minor until his gun clicked. He quickly ejected the empty clip and slapped a new one into place and continued firing without pause.

"Mgalekgolos! Watch out." A panicking voice of a soldier rang out among the Imperial ranks.

Hulking forms of massive creatures soon lumbered into the fight. Standing over 4 meters tall and covered head to feet with ridiculous thick armor, Mgalekgolos were something _not_ to mess with in battle. Especially when they're strong enough to throw a land warthog at you with little trouble and break every bone of yours from a simple swing of its arm. Each is armed with an assault cannon fused in one arm and a large shield in another. Their nickname, "miniature shock tanks", is usually the best way to describe them in the battlefield since they serve as shock troopers and their equipment is on par with a tank.

The rumbling was heard to the nearest as the Mgalekgolos 'growled' at the foes standing in front of them. Assault cannons were set loose into the mist of their enemies as they broke into a charge and started carving a pathway through the Imperial ranks. Screams were heard as the large shock troopers mercilessly crushed any foe in their sight as they slowly drove the Imperials back and regained lost ground. Unnoticed by the Imperials, the Mgalekgolos were simply distracting them to allow most of the Covenant to start falling back to the evac zones without being harassed.

Hayden ducked as bodies flew over his head and continued contributing his bolter in taking down the biggest threat. Of course, it was easier said than done when nearly all the rounds fired simply bounced off it's incredibly thick armor while plasma and laser only scorched the surface.

"FALL BACK! We can't hold this position anymore! They're tearing us apart!" Yelled a major over the sounds of explosions, guns, and screams.

At that command, the Imperial forces began an orderly retreat as they tried holding back the Mgalekgolos. Unfortunately, they stepped up their efforts in breaking apart their ranks upon seeing them retreat.

A series of loud rumblings is heard above everyone as fighting slows down with every head looking up. Breaking through the clouds in the sky were countless drop pods that began crashing throughout the city with several including a large one crashing in the area.

The fighting died down with the introduction of these pods. Hissing his heard as panels open up from the pods. Armored beings climb out of the pods and armed to teeth with weapons. The largest drop pod releases a large mechanical suit that all the Imperials recognize as a dreadnought.

Silence hangs in battle before the dreadnought decides to interrupt. **"Forward Brothers of Aurora! Sons of Corverus, rally yourselves to battle with us once more!** Came the booming voice of the dreadnought to everyone. The Spartans begin firing at the Covenant with superior speed while the dreadnought himself charged at the Mgalekgolos. The Imperials quickly rally themselves and join the Spartans in the attack once more.

Venerable Dreadnought Trion charged at the nearest Mgalekgolo and slashed it with his power claws as the armor that was able to be impervious against bolt rounds and plasma broke down against graviton energy. The combined Lekgolo form collapsed from its grievous wounds as Trion turned his melta cannon at another fired point-blank, destroying the entire upper body to atoms. The remaining ones roared in anger at the loss of their bonded partners and charged recklessly at the dreadnought. Trion fired another burst from melta at the chest of one, instantly killing it. Turning to face the last two, he sidestepped the swing of the first one and sliced the shield arm of the second while bashing the head of the former with his melta at the same time. Temporally dazing the first one, he brought his full attention on the second and thrust his claw into the chest. The Mgalekgolo gave a 'roar' of pain and tried to fire its assault cannon at the dreadnought. Before it could do that, Trion ripped his claw out, taking a good chunk of the Lekgolo out and destabilizing the form. With the second out of the picture, Trion pointed his melta at the last Mgalekgolo remaining that soon came out of its state. Seeing all of its partners dead, it angrily charged at Trion to extract vengeance even at the cost of its life but he decided to end with a burst in its head, effectively ending it.

The death of the Mgalekgolos finally broke the Covenant pressure and initiated a full retreat the evac zones seeing that the battle has been lost for them. All over the city, the Covenant was being pushed back by the arrival of the reinforcements in every turn as more and more Imperial forces land and joins the fight. It quickly becomes clear to the Covenant that they've lost the battle for this planet and it would be a waste to keep fighting for a lost cause. Slowly, they begin to retreat, leaving token forces to slow down the Imperials before they themselves fallback in order to get everyone off this world.

**[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]**

CSO-Carrier _Sacred Life_

Shipmaster K'toranee carefully watched the Imperial fleet as moved his ships over the evac zone secretly to not tip them off. He knew that if let his ships get destroyed; the ground forces were as good as dead and that would mark a stain on both his and his family's honor. It would be better to die defending the ships carrying the survivors; honor would still be preserved in his family.

"Shipmaster, why didn't help with the battle before? We wouldn't be in this situation if we had contributed our strength." He signed from the question coming from his second-in-command, Gul 'Bteronee.

"The Fleetmaster had given me specific orders before the battle occurred to have my group stay back and not interfere with the fight, even if he was losing."

"And that's what happened!" Exclaimed 'Bteronee. "Most of our fleet is in ruins with only a handful that can still fight in one piece and only 4 of them are strong warships. If we had assisted, we would've-"

"Been destroyed." K'toranee interrupted him. "Fleetmaster Rafirmee felt that there was a good chance that we wouldn't hold off against reinforcements. Our ships suffered fighting the defenders of this world and now we lost most of it against this fleet. Not too mention we have yet to face the Sector Fleet this world is part of. If joined the battle, we would end up condemning our comrades on the surface to their deaths."

"I-I understand, sir." 'Bteronee lowered his head in shame from questioning his superior.

"Shipmaster!"

K'toranee turned to face a young Jiralhanae speaking from the communications station. "We've received word from the array controllers. They've succeeded in locking teleporters on everyone on the surface and are awaiting your call for the retreat. All eyes on the bridge turned to face him for his call. Seeing as he was the highest-ranking Shipmaster left in the fleet, he was the only one that could make that order. However, he was a bit hesitant to make this order: by retreating, he would be not only hurting his reputation but everyone else's that worked hard to earn the respect.

"Alert Shipmaster! More slipspace ruptures are occurring at least 200,000 kilometers to our left." Warned a Sangheili officer from the scanners.

From an image scanner, K'toranee could see slipspace portals open and spew out Imperial ships until there were around 26 ships. _'That does it,'_ he thought. _'We cannot take on both forces together at once and succeed.'_

"Order the evacuation to begin, call all craft to return to back to their respective ships. Have all engines prepped and get the slipspace drives warmed up." The crew went to the controls and started sending out his orders.

On the planet's surface, the Imperial forces were driving back the Covenant slowly out of the city where they could be finished of an ounce and for all. Before that could happen, large flashes started occurring amongst the Covenant ranks until to the Imperial's disbelief, every single enemy warrior had teleported back to the ships without finishing the fight. Leaving behind many _really_ pissed-off Humans, most notably the Spartans.

Now, Ultraspartans are well known and famed for being very disciplined, calm (even in desperate situations), and orderly. So it is very rare to see one Ultraspartan, let alone around 2 company's worth, lose their calmness when directly denied a battle for glory and honor (in one of the Covenant's ultimate middle finger's form). So saying they were angry was putting it mildly.

A great roar of anger was heard from the city and all together, the planet. Many of the ship's crew orbiting the planet at the time had sworn they heard a terrifying set of swears and curses known by Mankind emitting from the planet. It was also said that the anger welded together with psychic energy and traveled through space for others to hear it.

* * *

Thousands of light-years away on Macragge

Legion Master Marneus Calgar immediately looked up from the book he was reading peacefully in the Library of Ptolemy, the Librarium of Fortress of Hera, the main Fortress-Monastery, and headquarters of the Ultraspartans Legion. He could've sworn he felt members of the legion break their legendary calmness in the angriest way just a few moments ago.

"Something bothering you, Calgar?" Spoke a man wearing decorated psychic robes that identified him as Chief Librarian Varro Tigurius and was carrying a stack of scrolls in his hands with several young Lexicaniums behind him.

"Nothing at all old friend." Calgar seemed to be lost in thought before shaking his head and bringing his attention back to the book. "Thought I felt something out of place. Probably all in my head from having too much coffee in the morning." He muttered the last part to himself.

The Chief Librarian and his apprentices looked at each other before shrugging it off and continued their work.

* * *

"All warriors have been brought on board Shipmaster!" Announced a Sangheili communication officer.

"Good. Full power on the sub-light engines. Get us out of here now." K'toranee ordered to the bridge. None of the bridge argued with him. After all, one would need to simply look out the window and see that the Imperial ships were making a beeline for them with a murderous intent. And no one wanted to be on the receiving end of it.

"Enemy ships are charging their weapons!" Cut in the panicking voice of an Unggoy.

"Jumping into slipspace would a be a good time now!" K'toranee nervously spoke as the Imperial ships fired a massive volley of weapons at them.

"Almost done…" The volley started getting dangerously closer and most of the fleet had already jumped. "…There! Jumping now!" The CSO opened a large portal and started entering as fast as possible with the portal closing _just_ as the rounds passed through the then empty space.

**[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]**

Retribution-Battleship _Starfall_

"**Damn all things that are HOLY!"** Roared Rear-Admiral Charker in anger at missing the only chance of destroying the remaining Covenant fleet. He began yelling every curse and swear he knew in every language he can speak. The bridge simply stood slack-jawed at the behavior of their superior and the fact that he was cursing in such a way that would make any crewman of the Navy green with envy. His tantrum went on for a number of minutes before he was able to calm himself down.

"_Sigh_. Rheago, have the squadron return back to orbit and send a message to High Command that Corverus is secured.

"_Yes, Rear-Admiral."_ Replied Rheago as sent the commands to all the ships while Charker himself exited the bridge muttering to himself, "…getting to old for all this."

* * *

Codex Imperium:

Stormtrooper: men serving as special shock troopers armed with a Storm Shield and a Storm Bolter. They perform as the first ranks of a charge or raiding a base.

Battle Barge: specially designed ships that perform both as a transport and a battleship for the Spartan Astartes Legions. They have a length of 11km long.

Lunar-class Cruiser: the Spartan's own version of a cruiser for battles. Standing at around 4.8km long.

* * *

_**And that concludes chapter 5.**_

_**Remember guys**_

_**REVIEWS FOR THE REVIEWS GO- *blam* *body hitting the ground* *smoking bolt gun appears through doorway before someone else walks in the room and sits at the desk***_

_**Heh. Sorry about that. Don't know how that heretic got in here.**_

_**so remember guys, reviews, and good criticism or else *holds storm bolter for emphasis ***_

_**Until next time! *****looks ****at body* great now I need to clean this up. **_


	6. Chapter VI

**AN: _Here I am guys._**

_**Chapter 6 is here!**_

_**Now to answer some people:**_

**Ny'Kle: _the _Imperium's_ is not _over powering_. It just happens that they brought more dakka to fight than the _covies_._**

**edboy4926: _I will be doing Gears of War. Just need to figure when to do it._**

**mr I hate znt nobles kill em: _both _eldars_ will be appearing WHEN it is the right time (they will show up). You are right with Innies (almost)._**

**SPARTA-626: _your advice has been helpful and _ME_ will also be making an appearance in another story of the series._**

**OMAC001: _even though posted in the codexes, all the others didn't get codexes was because their tech remains the same except for the Imperium and Covenant. _Yes,_ the forerunners will get one in the future._**

_**Now onto the story! **_

* * *

**The Council**

_It's usually not a good idea to get on the bad side of the Council of High Lords if you know what's best for you. The Directorate would wipe you off existence with a snap of her fingers. The Grand-Fabricator would make sure none of you machines would ever work. The Grand Provost can make the law living hell for you. The Grand-Governor will make you wish you didn't exist. The Representative of the Imperial Military depends on who it is. For the Paternal Envoy…best not to think about it. Lastly for the Maestro, he will put you through so much red tape you'll never see the end of it._

_And trust me on that, I'm still going through mine's since 2 centuries ago and I still can't see the end of it yet._

_-Regional-Governor Marcus Leonidas_

* * *

**Segmentum Solar**

**Regional Solar**

**Sector Solar**

**Sub-Sector Solar**

**Sol System**

**Throneworld Terra**

**1.531.M36**

In the black void of space lies the fabled planet Terra, the ancient homeworld of Humanity. For countless millennia, this world has stood against the withering strength of the universe. It has witnessed the rise and fall of mighty empires both within and outwards. And in its greatest moment, gave birth to one of the finest sentient species to ever travel the stars: _Homo sapiens_, or better known, Humanity. The planet Terra stood in the Sol System, Humanity's ancient home star system. The greatest and most defended star system in the Imperium of Humanity.

And that's what Lord of Admirals Terrance Hood was experiencing as his flagship, the Oblivion-Battleship _Fist of Sigmar_ traveled calmly through space while passing under the shadow of a Dark Space-station as is stood silently as a sentinel. Around his ship, hundreds of civilian ships traveled to and out of the Sol System under the careful watch of thousands of warships of the legendary _Solaris_ Galactic Fleet under the command of High Lord Admiral Preston Cole of the Solar High Command.

He continued watching through the bridge as his passed the Mars with its massive shipyards and space elevators orbiting the red planet while the surface was dotted with large factories and plants that every forge world has. He watched the massive form of a completed Eternal-Supercarrier leave the shipyards and take off with escorts through a slipspace portal.

"Milord, we're approaching Terra and will be docking with the space elevator Cairo." A junior officer informed Hood.

"Good. Alert me once we've docked with the station," responded Hood to the officer. The junior officer saluted and walked back to his station.

Returning his gaze back to the windows, he could see Terra filling the view of the bridge. Orbiting the planet was countless defense stations of every class and numerous elevators. On the surface itself, Hood could see the green and blue of Terra's forests and oceans with its large cities dotting across the world. His visage was ruined when his ship rumbled a bit and muffled sounds of something clamping on his ship echoes through the hull.

"Milord, we have successfully docked with the Cairo. Your transportation awaits for you."

"Very well. I leave this ship in your care Captain Dmitri." Hood spoke to the captain who sat in his command chair.

Hood walked out of the bridge and through the hallway until reaching series of doors with the label of tram system inscribed above. Tram systems were widely used in large ships like the one Hood's currently in since it would take too long to walk to one end to the other. He waited until he heard the 'ding' and the doors opened to admit him in. Walking in and taking a seat, the doors closed and the tram soon took off to his destination: the airlock gates.

Minutes passed for Hood before he felt the tram slow down to a complete stop and opened the doors. Hood exited out as others filed past him into the tram for their own destinations while he headed for the airlocks.

**... ... ...**

Cairo Space Elevator

Hood's naval boot clicked on the steel tiles of the station's floor after exiting the airlock tubes connecting his ship to the station. Looking around the bustling room, Hood noticed a decorated officer standing at the back and was scanning the crowd before his eyes fell on Hood and stood at attention from the presence of a ranking officer. Hood realized that this man was his guide to the Imperial Palace. He crossed the room until he reached the man who still stood at attention.

Silence hung between the two men before Hood felt it would better for him to speak. "Are you my guide?"

The man saluted with a smile. "Yes, milord. I'm Major Leonard and I will be your guide to the Imperial Palace. If you please, follow me." Leonard indicated with a sweep of his hand towards the exit. Hood nodded and the two proceeded to walk out of the station and towards the transportation bay.

Outside the station, a Valkyrie could be seen exiting the bay and heading for the surface of Terra in an area known as the Himalayan Mountains where the fabled Imperial Palace is located.

**... ... ...**

Imperial Palace, Himalayan Mountains

Sitting both on top and in the mountains is the Imperial Palace. A massive building that spans a good length of the mountain range and is the location of the Council of High Lords and the home of the God-Emperor of Mankind himself. Hundreds of spires rose from the palace with large gateways and bridges connecting everywhere. Below the palace and spreading for many kilometers is one of the largest cities of Terra. The city was filled with large towers and spirals rising from the ground for kilometers, rising platforms and other magnificent architectures dotting the city landscape all with hanging gardens to add a sense of beauty. Thousand of vehicle traveled both air and ground in the city as people went on through their daily lives.

"We are touching down at the Imperial Palace now," spoke the pilot over the intercom of the craft. Both men stood and walked to the back of the Valkyrie as the ramp lowered and exposed them a clear view of the palace. Exiting the craft and began the journey of traveling towards the Eternity Gate.

Hood and Leonard walked through a long bridge separating the palace and the city that was filled with people and guards. Large statues of famous Imperium heroes dotted the length of the bridge as the two when went farther until there were only empty spaces for the future. It took them at least half an hour to make the journey before reaching the gate guarded by numerous legendary Custodian Guards in their brilliant golden armor and two Chassis titans covered in golden plates.

Upon arrival, one of the Custodes walked up to them, "name, status, and your purpose here." Said the Custode in a strict voice while his eyes bore down on the two men.

Hood gave the guard a holo-ID to him. "Lord of Admirals Terrance Hood and the Council of High Lords has called a meeting together since I represent the military there," Hood spoke with absolute conviction and truthfulness. Leonard did the same with the guard. The Custode inspected their IDs before nodding in satisfaction and returning it back to their owners. "Welcome Lord Hood, the rest of the council awaits for your arrival." The Custode spoke with a slight bow with his head.

Hood accepted his ID back. "Thank you. I will be on my way." The two men made their way past the Custodes and through the opened gate towards the Senate of the Council of High Lords.

**... ... ...**

The Chamber of the Lords

The Chamber of the Lords room was located in the largest spire on the tallest mountain to signify its importance. Right now, a heated discussion was occurring in the room as the members waited for the military representative to show up. They didn't have to wait long for no sooner did Hood entered the room and take his place amongst everyone could the meeting start.

"Good, you're finally here Hood. The meeting can now start." The Maestro of the Administrate announced in his ancient voice. Sitting in the meeting were all 7 members of the council: Maestro Giovanni Di Menisci of the Administrate, the oldest member of the council at 596-years. An old man with an impressive long white beard and has been holding his position for such a long time many wonders how he hasn't gone senile yet; Directorate Margaret Parangosky of the Officio Agente, at 427-years, she is a cold-calculated woman who's every action is benefit Humanity as long as the risk is worth it. Not to mention that she's a human 'blank'; Grand-Fabricator Dolores Halsey of the Mechanicus, the youngest at around 408-years old, a good deal of his body had been replaced with bionics from an accident back when he was a young apprentice; Grand Provost Nicholas of the Arbiters, at 453-years, he carries an aura of criticalness on everything he sees; The Paternal Envoy Sarius Gorki of the Navigators, a wizened old man at 522-years old. He wears a very old set of robes and a Navi-hood to signify his experience, and finally the Grand-Governor Kern Vigath of the Colonial Order. Around 477-years old, he is the most experienced in political life that can rival the Emperors.

"Lord Hood, you said in the message that you have important news to bring us?" Parangosky spoke in her emotionless voice. Hood grimaced a bit from her voice; it was something he never got used since her very being projected an aura of uneasiness to anyone, pysker or not.

"Yes, yes I do. But first, you all know of Exploration Fleet Centaur and how they've been silent?" Nods of heads came from all the Lords. "Well, a patrol group found them, or rather what was left of them." Silence filled the room before all everyone started shouting.

"When did this happen?"

"Do you know the culprit of this?"

"How did they fall?"

Suddenly, a powerful voice cut through the air, "SILENCE!"

Immediately everyone became silent as figure strode into the room with his Custodian Companions accompanying him. Instincts fell in as everyone in the room bowed their heads to the approaching man. Entering the room is a man standing at 2.74 meters [9 ft] tall; his body shaped with the perfection of the human body and radiated godly power that no other being could hope to match. He is the one and only, the God-Emperor of Humanity.

The Emperor took his place on a throne-like chair before indicating Hood to continue.

Hood cleared his throat, "as I was saying, we found only a small number of their remains. The majority of the fleet appears to be missing."

"Was the Covenant of the Mantle responsible for this?" Questioned the ancient Maestro in his croaky voice.

The question made Hood frown. "I had enginseers inspect the remains and they've all concluded that this isn't the work of the Covenant. Someone else had done this." Once again, silence hung over the room as everyone digested the news. Everyone knew that the Exploration Fleet was well protected although armed with outdated gear; it was still more than enough to give any opponent second thoughts. To hear that they were just destroyed was a bit unsettling.

Parangosky stood up from her chair. "Do you have any theories Lord Hood of whom may have been responsible?"

"No, I don't. But many of the commanders suspect it the work of a new race," he answered grimly. He didn't like the fact that a new species could have done this.

Sarius spoke up, "then it's imperative that we find the one responsible for this action before they try again." Heads nodded in agreement with the Navigator.

"Then we're all in an agreement." All the council members turned to face the Emperor. He moved his gaze to Parangosky. "Directorate, you know what to do."

She bowed her head. "I understand milord. I will inform the Sectium Xenos of this revelation and have them decide on the course of action." She closed her eyes to communicate in the neural link.

"Any more news to bring in this council?" Asked Menisci to everyone.

Vigath coughed slightly to get the maestro's attention. Menisci motioned him to speak up. "As you know, we had defeated the Covenant at Corverus but at a price. Most of the infrastructure and defenses are ruined and would require aid and resources to repair them back to full strength."

The Maestro grunted in agreement. "I will have the departments make the necessary work to make that happen." The Governor smiled at the Maestro. "Thank you very much Menisci."

"Directorate." Lord Hood's voice interrupted everyone's discussion. "This has been nagging everyone in the military, but have your agentes discovered the reason why the Covenant of the Mantle is attacking us?"

Parangosky sighed as she slumped in her seat. "So far we aren't even closer to finding then before. All we know from interrogations is that they are pretty much angry about something we 'supposedly' did to them. They refuse to tell us what we did only that it was something bad enough to not be spoken or _thought_ at all."

Expressions of surprise erupted on everyone's faces from the piece of information. "You're telling us that we 'did' something so bad they refuse to even _think_ about it?"Everyone noted how much emphases Sarius placed on the word think.

She gave a slow nod. "They say that we came down on one of their worlds and attacked it. And something about slandering our heritage name, which is unforgivable." Heads turned to face the Lord of Admirals as he realized the implications.

"Before any of you start accusing me of being trigger-happy, no I did not order an attack on a xeno's world without any of you knowing and all fleets were accounted for," Hood spoke with a hint of anger in it.

"Then it is important that found out who is responsible for throwing us into this war," said the Emperor from his seat. "We need to know the real reason behind this war and quickly. Is that understood?" He received acknowledgments from them. "Then I declare this meeting over. You're all dismissed."

Everyone soon started breaking up after being dismissed and going back to their respective positions.

* * *

**Regional Solar**

**Sector Solar**

**Sub-Sector Epsilon**

**Epsilon Eridani System**

**Fortress World Reach**

**2.531.M36**

Fortress world Reach is one of the greatest defended worlds second to Terra. The world served as the capital of the Imperium Military and because of that, its defenses were fierce. Thousands of warships patrolled the system while countless stations orbited everywhere with defenses becoming thicker if any enemy tried to get closer to Reach itself. Even though the other planets of the system weren't military, they still benefited from the security.

Orbiting the planet were massive dry docks capable of holding and caring several hundred ships. Numerous Dark Space stations stood guard over the planet like silent sentinels of the past with their weapons pointing out and daring anyone foolish enough to try and attack this world.

Below on the surface, massive fortresses filled the landscape in strategic and crucial locations. One such fortress, located in heart of the Menachite Mountain is known as Castle Fortress. This base served one purpose other than a defense; it served as the headquarters of Sectium Xenos, Officio Agente.

**... ... ...**

Castle Fortress

Master Agente Gregor Eisenhorn was shifting through messages being sent to him from the active members in the field and other bases of the Sectium spread throughout Imperium space. He let a sign, paperwork was never his favorite thing right now he was going through another boring day. However, his work was interrupted by a flashing message on the screen indicating its importance. Wondering to himself on what could possibly be so important about this one, his eyebrows shot up upon reading the name of the sender and didn't waste any more time reading the entire message. Reading the report, Eisenhorn could see that his day would get very interesting if what he read is correct; he moved the message aside and pressed a label on the screen. "Ravenor, get yourself up here in my office now. This is very important."

Minutes passed by until the door of the office slid open and a young man entered the room. Eisenhorn turned to face his former protege, Gideon Ravenor as the man sat across his former teacher.

Silence floated between the men before Ravenor decided to break it, "so what is very important for you to interrupt me from my studies?"

Eisenhorn handed him a portable holo-screen. "Look through the message and you'll see." Ravenor accepted it and began reading it. A few minutes passed by before his own eyebrows shot up and looked back at the ex-teacher in surprise. "She cannot be that serious."

Eisenhorn snorted at that response. "This is the Directorate we're talking about. She never makes a joke like this."

"Yes, I know but still, trying to find out the fate of an entire exploration fleet when there's _barely_ any of them left. We may not be able to see this investigation finished at all."

Eisenhorn waved off Ravenor's worries. "Yes, I know that, however, it is very important that we find out who was the cause of the fleet's demise. All exploration fleets are armed to fight a war without any backing from us for years. To find out that they've been annihilated is very concerning."

Ravenor leaned back on his seat. "So what do I need to do?" Even though he knew the answer, he felt like humoring his old mentor.

Eisenhorn stood off from his chair and calmly walked to the windows of his office since they provide a clear view of the landscape surrounding the mountain. "You will head off to solve this mystery and possibly the threat along with it." He turned around to face the young man. "Take a squad of the Deathwatch with you. I have a feeling you'll be needing it."

Ravenor also stood up from his chair. "I understand. I will take my leave now and make the necessary preparations."

He turned around and began walking to the door before Eisenhorn's voice stopped him. "Oh and Ravenor." He turned to face him. "Try to come back in one piece and don't blow something up."

He smiled at the last part. "No promises," he responded before exiting the office.

Eisenhorn sighed as he sat in his chair again, feeling the pressure of age taking a hold on him. He still remembered back then when he was a young Agente in the field and traveled a lot. _'And now I'm stuck here in this Emperor-accursed office simply because I'm too "old" for this work now.'_

Ravenor walked through the hallway as members of Sectium Xenos bustled around him before reaching a set of double doors guarded by two Atlas suits. One of the Atlases focused its glowing lenses on him when a flat beam of light shot out and started scanning him. Minutes passed by before the light retracted and the two machines stepped aside to allow him access. Ravenor entered the two doors before they closed behind and the two Atlases moved back into place.

In the orbit of Reach

High above in the orbit of Reach, one of the massive docking facilities opened a large bay to allow a ship to exit out into space. Speeding through space is a Prowler-class Stealth ship, the OA's only fleet of ships in service. The ship continued building up speed and distance until reaching the edge of the system where a slipspace portal opened and swallowed the ship.

* * *

**Slipspace-transit**

**Prowler-Stealth ship **_**End of Time**_

**4.531.M36**

Ravenor walked to the bridge of his assigned ship as it graced through the dimension of slipspace. Around him, servitors worked on the controls of this ship while the captain sat in his command chair while piloting this ship with the ship's onboard navigator.

"So Agente Ravenor, where is our destination?" he turned to the voice behind him and saw it came from Battle-Captain Carter of the Deathwatch kill-team Noble. The spartan was clad in his power armor with the helmet tucked under his right arm. Nearly the entire armor was painted black to signify his service to the Deathwatch. One of his shoulder pads remained unpainted as it signified his allegiance to the Crescent Warriors Chapter, Legion XVI Luna Wolves. Like himself, the rest of the team is composed of Astartes of different legions. The first one is Sternguard-Veteran Jorge of the Aurora Chapter, Legion XIII Ultraspartans. There is Vanguard-Veteran Emile of the Ravager Chapter, Legion XII World Breakers. Scout-Sergeant June of the Raven Guard Chapter, Legion XIX Raven Guard. Librarian-Warrior Six of the Persecutors of Darkness Chapter, Legion I Dark Angels. And finally, Techmarine Cat, one of the rare female Spartan Astartes in existence from the Sisters of Battle Chapter, Legion III Humanity's Children. They all formed the Deathwatch kill-team, Noble.

"Where Exploration Fleet had the last contact with the Imperium, the Nomad Fleet of Giardia."

Carter raised an eyebrow at the name. "Truly? You realize it can take us months to find their location since they're always on the move."

Ravenor shook his head in response. "No, it won't. I was able to learn the next system they plan to stop at for refuel and rest. That is where we will meet them for information we need for the investigation."

Carter nodded his head. "Understood sir. In the meantime, the team and I will wait." With his last words, he turned around and walked out of the bridge. Ravenor simply turned back to face the windows of his ship while continuing watching the swirling form of slipspace outside.

* * *

**Unknown Location**

**N/A.M36**

"My Archon." Spoke a kneeling figure in the dark bridge of a ship before a standing tall figure garbed in malicious clothes. 'The 'humans' have found the remains of their fleet that we've left out as you requested."

The figure shifted a bit before a dark voice came out. "Do they suspect?"

The kneeling one hesitated before giving an answer. "It appears they don't but that could change any moment. But they have sent an agent of theirs to hunt down the culprit. I will take a team with me and hunt down that poor excuse of an inferior species before he can discover us." The figure stood up and began moving towards the back but stopped at a simple word.

"No." The word rang across the room as its effects occurred.

The figure turned around in surprise and shock. "B-but my Archon, if we don't eliminate him, he might-" His sentence was cut off from the simple wave of a hand.

"That will not be necessary. Everything is going to plan as I hoped it would." A dark chuckle echoed across the room while the figure's face still conveyed an expression of confusion. "We will still continue with our objective. All we have to do is let all the pieces fall into place and reap the benefits."

The figure made a smile that could chill the bones of a daemon. "Understood, Archon Asdrabael Vect."

* * *

Codex: Imperium of Humanity

Prowler-class Stealth: at a length of 2.5 km long, Prowlers are not designed for combat. There are equipped with systems that allow them to be invisible in either electronic or eye view. They are lightly armed but makeup with powerful shields and advanced cyber technology.

Consocius AI: AIs/Machine spirits that serve as personal companions to high-ranking people in both the civilian and military structures.

Militaris AIs: AIs/Machines spirits that serve as a strategic/tactical coordinators between fleets and armies for faster responses in the battlefield.

Chapter Praestes: they're non-Astartes that serve as the guardians of the chapter's ships and bases since Spartans cannot focus themselves on everything (think of Chapter Serfs in 40k, except they have a bigger role).

Atlas Suits: exo-suits that house an AI in them and serve as heavy shock troopers. At a height of 2.43 m (8 ft), they can be equipped with all kinds of weapons and built to be faster, stronger, and more resilient to damage compared to a normal human.

Sector Fleet: often times, Imperium reinforcements can take a while to arrive at a planet's distress. As such, these fleets are composed of ships from different planet's PNDFs of the sector and are headed by a Sector Admiral.

Drop Pods: vehicles that can deliver Imperium soldiers to the battle instantly without delay. Both the Spartans and HDSTs use these for shock attacks and bringing in a fast response.

Deathwatch: an organization of volunteering Spartans with xeno experience that serves as the Chamber Militant of the Sectium Xenos of the Officio Agente.

* * *

_**And here are you guys for chapter 6!**_

_**Reviews and (positive) criticism**_

_**It seems that things are beginning to heat up a bit. What happened to the fleet? What exactly is the guy in the end (NO spoilers!)? Will Ravenor succeed or will he fail?**_

_**Find out next on Galaxia's Wars!**_


	7. Chapter VII

**AN:_ I'MMMMM BBAAAACCCKKK! _**

_**Sorry for the long wait guys. I had to deal with college applications and I tell you, it's a real headache.**_

_**So let's get to the comments:**_

**mr I hate znt nobles kill em:_ you're correct with the Dark Eldar and the fleet. Same with the Innies except with the whole 'corrupt' part. There are still some other human civilizations outside of the Imperium's border. It will depend on the crossovers you guys want to see in the series like what I will do with the Gears of War one later on._**

**SPARTA-626: _yeah I know and thanks_**

**Kinunatzs:_ this God-Emperor is stronger than the Pre-Horus Heresy one but weaker than what the other guy might be with all those sacrifices._****  
**

_**Oh and I just want to clarify some things- Galaxia's Wars is serving as a support platform for future stories so you guys won't ask questions in later stories like "when did they have that?" or "they were never that strong before." That sort.**_

_**Not to mention this serves as chance if you guys want to suggest new weapons appear in the story (if I didn't put 'enuff dakka') and other features (ships, planets, battles, species, etc.) you feel would help improve the story or make it better.**_

_**Oh and one last thing: does anyone know of any good editors/beta-readers that can help me? They could end up helping produce improved stories for you guys.**_

_**Now…ON TO THE STORY!**_

* * *

**Mystery of the Lost Fleet**

_The cosmos are filled with mystery and wonders. But one should still trend with caution for there are many things that lurk in the shadows; waiting to strike at you with all the horror they carry with them._

_-Mechanicus Astronomic Valgus Betarius_

* * *

**Segmentum Ultima**

**Regional Icarus**

**Sector Olympian**

**Sub-Sector Telstar**

**Tasonic System**

**Hive World Tasonic II**

**3.532.M36**

The Prowler _End of Time_ had been waiting patiently in the orbit of the hive world for the Nomad Fleet of Giardia to show at their stop. Days ago, Agente Ravenor had been in contact with the leaders and have arranged a meeting to discuss the fate of the exploration fleet. Now, Ravenor had been informed by the system's FTLs warning systems of an approaching mass nearing the system in slipspace.

"Milord, radiation levels are increasing at an outstanding rate. A large portal is being opened!" A crewman shouted from his post in the bridge.

"Very well, have the ship move aside to make space," ordered Ravenor. Servitors made inhuman groans in acknowledgment while crewman responded with salutes. The Prowler along with the planet's defense fleet moved aside as a massive slipspace portal slowly opened up near the world.

After stabilizing, the portal began spewing out countless ships from its abyss as they moved forward and started taking positions around. Soon, the number of ships exiting the rift stopped while it started swelling at an astonishing size before the final member of the fleet came out. What came out left many to stop what they were doing and gawk at the object. To call it with puny words like a giant or huge would have been an insult. The thing was a behemoth of unbelievable size. The slipspace portal quickly closed behind after completing its purpose.

Towering over everything else, the massive station/ship measured at around two hundred kilometers long and over one hundred and forty high. Large ports and living-quarters jutted out from the structure like a metropolis. Covering the surface of the ship-station were countless batteries and other defenses against any foolish attackers. One unique feature many noticed was the humongous chunk of earth that looked fused to the body while making up most of the mass of the ship-station. While many didn't know of its presence, Ravenor, however, knew why it looked like the fleet had ripped off a piece from a random planet. That 'chunk' was the only remaining large piece of the former Imperial Core world Giardia.

Ravenor remembered the history reports read when he was much younger: Core world Giardia had been explored and colonized in the Segmentum Ultima around 3.472.M34. For years it had flourished and became the capitol of its respective sub-sector. That was until it met its fate on 3.826.M34: a massive Ork WAAAGHH had managed to break through security and Giardia stood in the path of the invasion force. The planet had been quickly reinforced with ships and ground forces while the population evacuated to safety before the orks arrived. When the orks arrived, battles of large magnitudes erupted as both sides fought each other with extreme prejudice. After 5 years of continues fighting, despite the attempts of the Imperium to save the world, the ork's overwhelming numbers began winning. The Imperium then tried to make a last-ditch effort to retake the world with their Navy but proved disastrous that marked Giardia's fate. The Lord Admiral soon declared Exterminatus on the world in order to deny the orks their prize. A Nova-star bomb was fired at the planet with nearly the entire orks gathering at it and with a single strike, Giardia shattered and the ork threat extinguished for good. Even with the Imperium victorious, it came with a price: millions of soldiers were lost, thousands of ships and machines destroyed, and an entire world lost forever to defeat an Ork WAAGGHH. The people of Giardia suffered the most however; they had lost their home planet and now had nowhere to go. It wasn't until during one of their sweeps of the battlefield for any valuables of their former world did they find something. A massive piece of their planet still capable of emitting gravity floated in the debris. With a newfound determination, they dragged the piece and began working on it. Placing gigantic engines at the back and building a new city throughout the piece. As the years went by, new layers were built over each other with the ship-station expanding as the population increased until reaching it current size. A proud achievement of Human engineering and determination to survive.

"Sir, the fleet is contacting us."

The news brought Ravenor out of his thoughts. "Very well, bring up to me."

The operator nodded before typing in some commands before the holo-screen in front of Ravenor activated. Appearing on the screen was a grizzled man with a beard while wearing a naval uniform of the PNDF. _"I take your Agente Ravenor of Sectium Xenos, correct?"_

"Your are indeed correct Fleet Castellon. You also know why I'm also here for."

The Castellon nodded his head. _"Indeed. You have permission to board our home and meet us."_

"Understood. I will meet you there." Said Ravenor before the screen turned off and started exiting the bridge for his transportation.

**... ... ...**

Ship-Station _Giardia_

Ravenor walked into a wide room dominated by a large round table. Seating on the other side of the tables were the high-ranking men of the fleet: Planetary-Governor Melker of Giardia, Lord Castellon Kornuva, Fleet Castellon Weimar, and Chapter Master Libelous of the Black Dragons Chapter, Legion XVIII Salamanders. They all turned their heads after the Ravenor made his entrance known.

Taking a sit by the table, Ravenor looked around the room before speaking, "you all know why I'm here. I need to know when you last contacted them and what happened." There were hints of seriousness in his voice.

They took a moment to look at each other before nodding to each other in a silent agreement and Kornuva rising up and sliding a data module to Ravenor.

"As you may have been told," said Melker as he calmly walked around the room. "We had brief contact with the exploration fleet a few years ago. We had crossed paths and decided to interact a while with them before the left for the fringes of space." He stopped at his seat before gripping it slightly and glared a bit at Ravenor, who didn't flinch from the expression. "However, not a few months later, we picked up a distress call from the fleet reporting that they were under attack by 'unknown contacts'. Before we could react, a small group of ships we then recognized from the fleet jumped from slipspace into our region bearing scars of a heavy battle and venting in many places. We came to their side, did our best to patch up their damage, and asked them in what happened." Melker stopped at the end of the room where a large holo-image of the former world Giardia looked prior to its destruction. "The ranking officer of the group failed to tell us what happened, along with many of the surviving crew. All he said to us was 'pain and death will be with us if we are blind to the incoming storm' and handed us this very module you carry right to know in your hands. With that, he took his group and despite our protests, jumped away to presumably warn the rest of the Imperium. Fearing for the safety of our people, we jumped far away from our previous location. It didn't matter where we went, so long as we stayed far away from where we were to avoid the same fate that had befallen them. But seeing that you are here, we presume that they failed to deliver the warning?"

"That is true governor," Ravenor spoke in a grim voice he inspected the module for any hints of activation. He quickly noticed a peculiar detail from the module. "Gentlemen, it appears that this module has not been opened at all since it was locked by its former user."

"That is because the security mechanism is geared to be only unlocked by a high ranking officer that is, unfortunately, higher then what we have." Libelous's heavy voice sounded across the room. "None of the techs wanted to break in the system without the risk of damaging the data by accident."

"Mmmm…" Ravenor thought for a moment before bringing his right wrist in front of the module and allowing it to scan. The module's screen activated with a blue glow as letters appeared. +Scanning device…/+

Everyone in the room waited for the scanning process to complete and open up the sealed module before they were rewarded with a new message. +Scanning Procedure completed. Agente security Level accepted. Unlocking device now+

The module's screen warmed up with a brighter glow than before as information and labels appeared. Ravenor noted, however, a folder labeled 'Urgent News to Command' that was slowly pulsing with red to indicate its importance. Tapping on it, the screen suddenly darkened to everyone's surprise before static was heard emitting from the device.

"…_This is…miral César…oration fleet under atta…unknown hosti…ughtering us! We need reinfor…peror help us we ca…too fast for our wea…highly advance…eaking in the bridge! Kil-…"_ The static message ended abruptly, leaving everyone in deep thoughts. However, there one clear thing from the message, the possibility of a new foe was clear.

'This supports my suspicions, the exploration fleet was indeed attacked by a new foe and not the Covenant of the Mantle," said Ravenor out loud.

Weimer had confusion on his face. "If it wasn't the Covenant, then what? There are very little known species we are aware of other than those in the Covenant and the Orks. And we all know that there are indeed many other undiscovered species outside in the fringes." Everyone took his fact in consideration since he made a good point until a new voice interrupted.

"_Sir, if I may interrupt?"_ The voice of Ravenor's personal AI Merrick rang through everyone's neural-link. _"I've received a recent news of high importance."_

"And that would be…?" Questioned Ravenor.

"_The Librarium of the Ancients on the Archive world Voltas was recently unlocked and all the wealth of our ancestors ready to be opened to us once more,"_ Merrick spoke with a happy tone in his voice.

This grabbed everyone's attention immediately. It was well known that the Librarium of the Ancients is a planet-size library filled with knowledge predating the current Second Ascension of Mankind and possible the First Ascension. Everything their ancestors knew and collected hundreds of thousands of years before their fall by the deceased Forerunners. A library that would give the Imperium the information they need to understand the cosmos better than before. While the Emperor knew many things, he had mentioned when Voltas was found that he was only alive prior to Mankind rediscovering space-travel in the beginning of the Second Ascension.

"That is…great news indeed." Melker spoke in a surprised tone.

Libelous, who has been absently quite from thinking, suddenly slapped his hand on the table. "The library may contain the information we need to discover the culprits on the attack once and for all."

"And finally figure out why the Covenant of the Mantle had been attacking us all this time and what their blabbering nonsense about their Mantle means," Ravenor said with the realization in his eyes. "We might be able to stop this war once and for all."

Ravenor stood up from his chair. "Gentlemen, I'm aware that you may not like this at all, but with the powers of the Officio Agente and by the will of the Sectium Xenos, I hereby request the draft of several of your forces to support me for the duration of the mission until it ends."

As he suspected, many of them had the expressions of annoyance from hearing those words. While the Officio Agente wasn't everyone's favorite organization, the Emperor decreed that they had certain powers and one of those is the power to draft units from any military group if an Agente requested them for a good reason. So far, Ravenor knew that he had a good reason to request units for his mission.

Fleet Castellon Weimer sighed in defeat. "Very well Agente Ravenor. I will loan you several ships of my choice to you and expect them to return in one piece."

Lord Castellon Kornuva rose up from his seat. "I will send you veterans for your mission."

"I will have a platoon of Spartans accompany you in your mission," said Chapter Master Libelous.

Heads turned to Planetary-Governor Melker for his answer. "Might as well loan you several administrate members to help you in the library."

Agente Ravenor of Sectium Xenos smiled in relief. He was worried he might have to break out in a drawn-out speech of why he needed their men to help him. "Thank you very much, I will try my best to make sure your men return back in one piece." He finished with a slight bow of his head for appreciation. "I will take my leave now, the Emperor watches us." He finished with the sign of the Aquila.

'The Emperor watches us." The rest chorused together and made the sign too.

**... ... ...**

Prowler-Stealth_ End of Time_

Ravenor was in his quarters while reviewing the report of Giardia forces he requested. From what the dossier said, he had been given ten ships: one Oberon-battlecruiser _Unbowed_; three Marathon-cruisers _Iron Star_, _Sky Holder_, and _Artemis_; five Firestorm-heavy frigates _Twilight_, _Death's Blade_, _Golden Horn_, _Frost_, and _Spiritual_: and one Harrier-destroyer _Inconceivable_. Joining his team is a platoon of Black Dragon Spartans from the 2nd Company. Finally, a company's worth of veteran Marines and a platoon of HDSTs will join him. With all these forces, Ravenor felt he would be able to handle wherever the mission might lead him to.

Turning off the holo-cogitator, he exited his room and made for the bridge. Upon entering the room, many of the crewmen snapped to attention before he waved them away and approached the commanding center.

"Captain Jonathan, are all ships in line?" Ravenor asked the man on his side without turning to look.

A middle-aged man identified as Captain Jonathan sat in the Command Chair while reading his own reports in a holo-tablet before setting it down to answer the agente's question.

"All ships are in place and ready for the jump. We've already set the coordinates for Archive world Voltas and Navigator Shan has given us the go-ahead." Both Ravenor and Jonathan were old friends who have worked together on many missions since Ravenor was given his first objective and Jonathan assigned his own ship. So far, they've had a strong bond that has seen them through many tough situations.

"Thank you, Captain, inform all ships to now jump for Voltas."

Above the atmosphere of Tasonic II, eleven slipspace portals opened as the respective ships entered them before destabilizing and ceasing to exist after serving their purpose.

* * *

**Star Cluster Herald**

**System Se'Hyma**

**High Charity**

**Eon of the Covenant-14****th**** Age of Conflict-Period of Unrest**

Drifting through the void of space in a star system was the capital of the Covenant of the Mantle. It wasn't planet as many might think but a massive station: High Charity. Measuring at over 340 kilometers and 280 km high, its size would leave anyone slack-jawed in amazement of its engineering might. Surrounding the station is an equally massive fleet to protect it from anyone from getting any funny ideas. Inside the station were large cavern-rooms of cities filled with the species of the Covenant. To any outside observant, it would look like the inside of the station housed a world completed with a landscape.

But at this moment, the view was the last thing in mind for Councilor Xel 'Nithoree as strode through the guarded gates of the Sanctum Hierarchy where the rest of his fellow members awaited his arrival. Arriving at a set of large gates, he waited until the groaning sound of servos occurred as the doors opened. Quickly walking through as the gate closed behind him and entering the room where the rest of the Hierarchy sat.

The Sanctum Hierarchy carried a sense of beauty and power inscribed in its walls, which were covered in images and depictions of the Covenant's greatest moments in its history. Taking his place among the room, he could see the rest Hierarchy members snapping out of their previous actions before his arrival. On his right sat High Minister of Order (San'Shayum), Chieftain of the Old Maccabeus (Jiralhanae), and High Matriarch Anesa'Sana (Kig-Yar). On his left was Hive-Queen and King of the Chosen (Yamne'e), Merchant Lord Yip-Lo (Unggoy), and the Ancients Ogada Nosa Fasu and Igido Nosa Hurru (Lekgolo). There was one empty chair for the Hurogok but Nithoree knew that they wouldn't bother at all since the last time the Hierarchy tried, all they did was float around and do nothing.

"Ah, there you are. What took you so long?" Spoke a very agitated Anesa'Sana from her place. "I had to endure the pain of listening to Yip-Lo and his antics."

'Nithoree shrugged from his seat as he returned his attention to everyone else.

"Aside from hearing complaints, what I want to know is what exactly were we called here for? The message was marked 'urgent' and I'm pretty sure hearing 'Sana complain isn't the urgent business." Maccabeus interrupted with a bored tone while inspecting his knife. A huff of irritation was heard from 'Sana, which he ignored.

A rumbling 'growl' was heard from Ogada while the translators picked the sound up. _"We're aware that Order had called all of us together for something important. Isn't that right Order?"_

Order sighed a bit before answering, "Yes you're correct. I called all of you together today for some very important and probably disturbing news." Hearing his explanation left many Hierarchies in thought while digesting his words carefully.

"Err…not to sound bad but what exactly could be disturbing?" Questioned Yip-Lo. A chorus of agreements came from the rest of the delegates as they wished to know also.

Order fiddled with his fingers a bit before raising his head to face the curious gazes of his fellow members. "You all remember the Blood of Samara?" He didn't have to wait long for an answer. Xel'Nithoree and Maccabeus carried expressions of anger while clutching their fists till their knuckles turned white. The Hive representatives, the Lekgolo, and Anesa'Sana let out mournful sounds of pain and sadness while Yip-Lo looked ready to start crying a new river. All the members remembered that fateful event very well. When the first "official contact" with the Imperium of Humanity occurred and resulted in the death of an entire Covenant world.

"Yes. I remember it clearly liked it happened yesterday." Maccabeus growled under his breath. "Tell how it even _relates_ to what we came here for."

"You remember when we were able to assert that the Imperials that attacked us were simply a vanguard force or scouts of a bigger force?"

Maccabeus raised an eyebrow at the question. "Yeah I remember. What about it? Found something that makes the information worse than before?"

Order shook his head. "No, rather I found something very startling that might have a large impact on all of us." The Hierarchy members looked at each other in confusion, as they didn't quite understand what he meant by that.

Ignoring their confusion, Order continued, "you are all aware of the armada we sent to the world the Imperium designated as Corverus?" Nods of heads were the only response he received. "Officially, the force was to invade the planet take it from the humans. Unofficially, the invasion served as a distraction for key Spec Ops members to infiltrate their headquarters and place tampering devices in their systems." This piece of news surprised many members.

"What exactly did we need to have several Ops place devices in their systems?" Asked 'Sana.

"Because…" 'Nithoree spoke, surprising the others, "Order and me had were slightly suspicious of the 'Imperials' who attacked us as they looked very different compared to the ones we fight currently. Not to mention those in the Imperium seem to have morals and honor while the ones that had attacked Samara before didn't have a single shred of it. It's almost like those who attacked us were rogues." Finishing his explanation, he watched as the expressions of the Hierarchy turned from surprise to one of disturbing, as they slowly comprehended what he meant.

"What's more," continued Order, "the devices sent us intelligence detailing that the Imperium had lost contact with what they called Exploration Fleet Centaur years ago before any contact was made between us. The very same name that was found on the ships that attacked us without provocation." Murmuring was heard as the rest took the news. "What's more, the humans have found remains of the fleet that had not been destroyed by us nor any known weapons." Order allowed them to slowly digest the information as their expressions began changing to realization and horror.

The Hive-Queen emitted some soft screeches and chirpings while she spoke in everyone's mind. _~That would mean that this entire war, the sacrifices, and deaths are all in vain?~_ There were hints of sadness in her voice as her bond-mate comforted her while everyone else was shocked and grim.

Order looked like he would hate himself for saying this. "I know I would regret saying this but yes Hive-Queen, everything has been in vain." The dam finally broke as the Hive-Queen psychically 'cried' at the news, which unfortunately meant that everyone else in the room felt the sadness literally. The results were lots of depressive emotions.

"Does that mean that Humanity was never our enemy?" 'Sana asked while trying to keep herself from openly sniffing.

'Nithoree frowned at the question. "That is something that we are still unsure. For all we know, Humanity is indeed an enemy to us. But for now, they're simply a victim like us in this war. But will still tread with caution."

A growling was heard as Ogada's bond-brother Igido spoke, _"Does this mean that we will have end this war on a sour note? The Imperium will not take a simple 'sorry' apology easily. They would want retribution."_

"I'm very aware of that, Igido." Said Order. "Which is why we will simply ease down on our offensives and focus on hunting down the ones responsible for starting this war."

"So that way when we catch the ones responsible for this, we will be able to prove to the Humans that we weren't the instigators of this war," Maccabeus said with his eyes shining with realization.

"Exactly," responded Nithoree.

"Yeah, except there's one small problem." Interrupted Yip-Lo. Heads slowly turned to his direction while trying not to appear nervous.

'And what exactly is the 'small problem' with this idea?" 'Sana sarcastically asked.

Yip-Lo appeared more nervous than before. "Weellll…um…ehhh…where do we start looking for the culprits?" he asked sheepishly.

Silence dominated the room instantly as everyone soon realized they haven't really thought that far when it came to catching the culprits.

_~He does have a very point there~_ informed the Hive-King much to the annoyance of others.

'Nithoree leaned a bit forward in his seat. "I would suggest sending an Arbiter to do our work."

"Who exactly could we send? The only available Arbiter is Ripa 'Moramee and we all know how he is. He would leave a trail of destruction through Imperium space to find the evidence that we seek." Pointed out Order to 'Nithoree.

"Which is why my fellow Councilors and I have chosen a different Arbiter," informed "Nithoree.

"I was under the impression that all the Arbiters were focused in the front-lines with none available for anything else." Spoke Maccabeus.

"That is because he recently attained the rank of Arbiter not too long ago." Receiving questionable gazes, he explained further. "Thel 'Vadamee of the State of Vadam. Former Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice after leading his force in a crushing victory against Imperial forces at the Omnora Stronghold."

"_Are you certain that he truly ready for this position? If I recall from your history, attaining the rank of Arbiter is not something simply given out and usually, those with centuries of experience earn it."_ Ogada's deep 'voice' rang out.

'Nithoree gave a slight nod. "I'm certain that he's ready to carry out the powers of the Arbiters and the responsibilities that come with it."

"Very well then." Said 'Sana. "So where is he? Back at your homeworld?"

"No." He quickly responded. "I have him waiting in the Council room. I can call him up here now if you would like that."

"Very well," said Order. "Call him up here to receive his first mission as an Arbiter."

Nodding at the request, 'Nithoree opened up a hard-light screen on his wrist and started tapping the screen before looking up back and nodding his head once more.

The Hierarchy waited until the gate slowly opened and admitted in a lone Sangheili to the room. The Arbiter was covered in ceremonial-scaled armor covered in runes and glyphs detailing its history. The armor, while looking archaic and ancient, is a powerful exo-suit made from the rare metal Enutanium and equipped with the finest systems in the Covenant armory. All this turned the Arbiter from a simple warrior to a dangerous foe.

Approaching the table, Thel 'Vadamee knelt down to his knee and spoke, "honored Hierarchy, I have come as you requested and await for my mission."

Several of the Hierarchy rolled their eyes at the formalities he was giving them. Many of them didn't like the attention they usually received from the lower-ranks since after all, most did also come from lower positions prior to gaining this title.

Order lifted a hand to stop 'Vadam from speaking further. "Enough with the formalities. And yes, we will be assigning you a mission of the upmost importance that can determine the course of this war."

"Name the mission and I will make sure that it is completed and will give us the upper hand against the Humans." 'Vadam spoke with some hints of firm determination in his voice.

'Nithoree looked unsure to Order since he didn't know how to break the news to the freshly-made Arbiter that Humanity may not be the real enemy and the possibility that the war was just a set up the entire time. Order gave him a pat on the back for encouragement before settling back on his grav-chair. Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, he decided to just speak know before he further embarrassed himself.

"There…is something you need to know Arbiter." 'Nithoree proceeded to tell 'Vadamee everything that has been discussed. Listening closely, "Vadamee's expression turned to shock upon hearing the theory on the war.

"Do you now understand why this mission we'll be giving you is of the upmost importance?" Informed 'Nithoree. 'Vadam slowly nodded his had in acknowledgment of what his superiors told him.

"Good then. You will be assigned the mission and will be given a ship and hand-picked units to assist you." Spoke Order.

'Thank you Hierarchy. I will do my best to find out the truth and punish the ones responsible for this mess." 'Vadam proclaimed. "I will not fail."

"I know you won't. You are dismissed Arbiter," said 'Nithoree. Saluting with a fist to the chest and dragging down, 'Vadam took his leave from the room.

Order turned back to face the rest of the Hierarchy. "Now, is there anything else we need to discuss?" Order received no responses. "No? Well then, this meeting is adjourned." One by one, all the members went their separate ways after dismissed to return to what they were doing prior before called up.

**... ... ...**

Hanger Bay 215C-3

Arbiter Thel 'Vadam watched as engineers were refurbishing the CVO-Assault Carrier _Shadow of Intent_ and her four CCS-Cruiser escorts specifically to fit the requirements of an Arbiter's mission. He was watching several workers remove a troop compartment until a voice interrupted his trance.

"Beautiful isn't she?"

'Vadam turned around to face the shipmaster of the _Shadow of Intent_, Rtas 'Vadum.

'Pardon me, who's beautiful?" Inquired a confused Thel. He didn't quite understand what the shipmaster meant.

Rtas directed his head to his ship. "The _Shadow of Intent_, glorious isn't she? Served me well through my lifetime and two past shipmasters. She has never felled in a battle and never will."

"Not to sound insulting but why refer the ship as a 'she'? This something I've never heard of before," asked a very confused Thel.

Rtas chuckled a bit or attempted to with only two mandibles of his jaw. "The 'she' idea came from the Human shipmasters who were very fond of referring their ship as a female and never as a male. It struck me oddly as to why they would do something like that until I paid closer attention to my own ship."

"And?"

"I noted that if there's one thing common between the ships of the Imperium's and ours, is that we both built our ships to be beautiful yet deadly. Hence the term 'she' as it would be the only way to identify the beauty."

"That…was very descriptive Shipmaster," Thel commented in a surprised tone.

Rtas made a Sangheili equivalent to a smile with his two mandibles. "When you have been fighting the Humans forces for some time, you tend to pick up on some things. But enough talking, I need to make sure you're acquitted with your new ship and the task units." Rtas quickly spun around and started walking to his ship, not bothering to wait for the Arbiter to catch up.

* * *

**Segmentum Solar**

**Regional Omar**

**Sector Rix**

**Sub-Sector Callidux **

**Agni Pendra System**

**Archive World Voltas **

**2.532.M36**

Outside of the small traffic around Voltas, eleven slipspace portals opened as Agente Ravenor's retinue group entered realspace and formed up around his flagship. There was a general buzz of excitement as everyone onboard couldn't wait to set foot on the legendary librarium. But the excitement soon turned to confusion once they realized something.

"Where in the Emperor's beard is the world's PNDF? There are only stations defending it!" Exclaimed Jonathan. He was not far off since the rest of the bridge and group shared the same thoughts.

"Perhaps they haven't…arrived yet?" An ensign said hopefully.

"_That is impossible. The ships sent to guard this world should've arrived last week! There was no news or alerts of a battle group disappearing without a reason."_ Merrick's voice cut in.

The crew began whispering theories on what could've happened while Jonathan and Ravenor had to deal with the other captains who were hollering for an explanation.

Suddenly, one of the crew let out a sharp gasped as he looked out the window. A chorus of 'gasps' followed his brief action by the rest of the crew including the other ships through the vox until both men turned around and gasped in shock too.

Floating right in front of the group where moments ago was just empty space with absolutely _nothing_ before, stood an Oblivion-battleship painted with the darkest black Ravenor has ever seen in his life. It didn't just stop there, flanking its sides were two Infinite-battleships, accompanied with multiple battlecruisers and countless other ships all with the same features. If Ravenor didn't know better, he would've sworn he was facing ghostly spectra's of former Imperial ships ready to deliver judgment. After all, they just _appeared out of nowhere _without any sign of how they did it. What definitely surprised him was when he tried to probe the fleet with his psychics, he was shocked that the ships were deathly quiet and barely visible through the warp.

"M-m-milord…we're b-being hailed by the l-lead ship!" An ensign stuttered from his post.

Quickly snapping out of his prediction, he cleared his throat. "Patch it through."

The screen in front of him fizzled for a bit before securing the link and bringing it up. And what he saw took him off guard. The screen brought up a view of a tall man wearing a Naval uniform but with a darker shade of color. The man wore a hood that obscured most of his face's features from view and carried a black cloak and ceremonial armor plates covered in what looked like strange runes. The man looked more like some dark-assassin than a naval personal.

The man stared hard at Ravenor with a piercing gaze. "Identify yourself."

Stepping closer to the monitor, Ravenor spoke, "this is Agente Gideon Ravenor of Sectium Xenos, Officio Agente. I'm sending the codes right know to you."

The man looked to the side of the screen for what felt like ten minutes before returning to the screen and nodding. "You have permission to continue forward Agente." The screen closed immediately and the black ships began moving aside for the retinue to pass.

While passing the ships, everyone tried to get a good look at them. Jonathan went as far as to have the ships scanned and were shocked to hear that none of the scanners even managed to touch the shields. It didn't make the crews opinion on the ships better when all it took was everyone to take their attention off the black warships for just a moment to allow the ships to _disappear_ once more mysteriously.

'_Not sure I even want to know how they even do it.'_ Ravenor thought to himself as his ship and the rest of his group slowly approached one of the orbital stations above the planet. Knowing that the library held the knowledge he was looking for, he was determined to solve this investigation and catch the ones responsible once and for all.

* * *

_**And that's for chapter 7!**_

_**Don't forget to post reviews and (nice) criticism**_

_**The stakes seem to be rising now. Both the Imperium and Covenant have their suspicions on the war itself. What could happen?**_

_**The Imperium found their species ancient library. What will it contain? Forbidden lore? Better psychic powers? The secret recipe to bake the ultimate pie in the galaxy?**_

_**Find out next on Galaxia's Wars! **_

_**Humanum usque ad mortem in æternum.**_


	8. Chapter VIII

**AN: _Sup guys_**

_**sorry for the slight delay, this chapter took FOREVER to complete and was just a big headache**_

_**so lets skip the pleasantries and get to the comments:**_

**mr I hate znt nobles kill em: _no the ancient human library cannot possibly have all those guys unless their pets or something like that. Yes, the Covenant have indeed experienced a WAAAGH! And for the guys, they never made it back to the Imperium, what exactly did you think happened to those poor fellows?_**

**SPARTAN-626: _the mystery fleet is not part of the legion, just an exploration fleet that just got unlucky. I not sure how I can include the abhumans in but I's see if it can be done._**

**Kinunatzs: _you are damn right!_**

**The Joining: _your ideas are intriguing, I will see what I can do about to help make my story better and make all you guys happy. And nope, your not annoying, your ideas are quite helpful._**

_**Okay them, on to the story!**_

* * *

**Hunting for Knowledge**

_We are the Shadows_

_We are the Unknown_

_We are the Watchers of Night_

_For Darkness is our Soul_

_Yet we are Loyal_

_To Humanity Forever_

_We have cast aside the Light_

_And embraced the Dark_

_To become the Silent ones_

_To take the Duty of the Lost_

_And forever be Bond_

_Until Death claims us at Last_

_While we still stand Vigilant_

_-Mantra of the Silent Guards_

* * *

**Segmentum Solar**

**Regional Omar**

**Sector Rix**

**Sub-Sector Callidux**

**Agni Pendra System**

**Archive World Voltas**

**Librarium of the Ancients**

**2.532.M36**

"…as you can see Agente Ravenor, we have so far opened and activated around 67% of the librarium. While we're working as fast as we can to have everything opened, it will take a time to have the entire world activated fully." Spoke Master Librarian Ontario Benixa to Ravenor and several scribes and guards behind him as the man guided them through the ancient hallways of the facility.

The hallway was a silver color marked with black lines that formed complex web patterns covering the surface. At the side of the walls stood large statues metal statues towering at 2 meters, standing like silent guardians.

'That is good to hear but I'm more interested in knowing where our ancestor's kept the knowledge of species they've documented."

The librarian stroked his white beard as he though for a moment. "That will be difficult to tell until we activate the main power grid of this world to bring up its terminals and such, I'm afraid you'll have trouble with your findings. There's simply too many scrolls, tomes, data crystals, and holo-terminals for us to catalog it all. It would take centuries. That is why we must wait until the mechanicus boys to finish their work."

Ravenor was about to retort something before seeing something at the edge of his view. Turning to see what it is, he inwardly gasps as he sees another man wearing an outfit similar to the one he saw on the monitor except instead of a naval uniform, this one wore what appeared like light armor colored black. He noted that unlike the naval one, this one wore a dark, stainless glass helmet that covered his entire face, making him much more intimidating. The man held a nasty-looking halberd at his side that Ravenor was pretty certain was capable of cutting through a Grizzly's armor with ease.

'Um, Master Librarian?" Ravenor's voice interrupted Benixa's speech. The Librarian turned to the Agente with a raised eyebrow. Ravenor pointed his head towards the mysterious guard. "Out of curiosity, just who exactly are these black-garbed men you have around this place?"

Benixa chuckled a bit at the question. "They're members of the Silent Guards, Voltas newest guardians."

"How come I've not heard of them? Better yet, there were no records of them at all." Ravenor responded while scratching his head.

'Their existence is recent and has been kept secret to only the Emperor and the High Lords themselves until now."

"What exactly are they? Just how were they able to make ships literally _appear_ out of nowhere?"

Benixa laughed at the last question. "That is because they practice an extremely rare form of psionic abilities invented by our ancestors that allows the wielder to utilize the shadows of the universe to grant them powerful abilities. Or in other words, able to utilize the darkness of the cosmos close to it's full potential without corrupting you. It is said that the founder of the group first found the tome of this power in an ancient human world long forgotten and brought it back with him. He spent time studying the tome, hoping to unlock its secrets and gain new knowledge. However, unknown to him, the tome was slowly drawing his attention to it and he began spending more time than before trying to decipher it. Suddenly without explanation, he locked himself in his study to 'unlock the knowledge uninterrupted'. And for 15 years he stayed in his study without any outside contact and when everyone suspected he had died either from starvation or thirst and were about to break in, it happened."

"What happened?"

"Just as they were about to break down the door, he suddenly manifested through the shadows of the surrounding area without any warning and declared that he had finally cracked the secret of the tome and learned its hidden knowledge. While everyone was excited of his achievement, he had said that the power came at a price." Benixa faced Ravenor with a serious glare. "To become a Silent Guard, you must cast aside your Light and embrace the Darkness in your soul. You become a shadow and no longer the same as before. You become part of something greater than many can imagine."

A frown appeared on Ravenor. "Those almost borderlines with heresy."

Benixa shook his head. "No, it doesn't. Close, but no. The Emperor made sure to see that it was truly safe and won't corrupt people instantly." He suddenly then looked distracted as he looked aside for a moment and concentrated as though he was listening to someone. Minutes passed by before a smile appeared and he looked back at Ravenor. "Miracle news, I was just told by Magos Julinos that they're nearly done with reconnecting the main power and the facility will soon be up and running."

Minutes passed by before the lights of the facility began activating. Blue lines began running through the black lines as a soft hum was heard in the background. However, the peace soon became short-lived when an alarm blared out in full blast with a voice.

"_**ALERT! ALERT! INTRUDERS DETECTED IN THE FACILITY! ACTIVATING DEFENSE PROTOCOLS!"**_

Immediately, the immobile statues turned to life as energy coursed through their bodies and they stepped off their platforms. The statues brought out forth cannons that materialized from nowhere and pointed them at the group. Shields of unknown material sprang up and isolated the group one by one while panels on the ceiling opened to release turrets which proceeded to bear their weapons at their targets. Drone-like machines began materializing out of thin air in great numbers as they surrounded the 'intruders'. The weapons of the group flew out of their holsters as magnets activated. Massive doors slammed shut on each side of the hallway while rods rose up from the ground and began crackling with all sorts of different energies in a threatening gesture. From the corner of his eye, Ravenor could see the Silent Guard trapped in a multitude of shields with some sort of bracers locked on him to restrict his movement and countless of advance weapons aimed at him. Ravenor couldn't help but be impressed with the kind of defenses their ancestors placed to protect this librarium.

"_**NAME YOURSELVES NOW INTRUDERS SO I WILL KNOW WHO'VE I DESTROYED**__**…**__**creators?"**_

Everyone soon became confused as the defenses lowered their weapons at the group. Just a moment ago, these ancient devices looked ready to unleash hell upon them and now they've stopped.

"_**Creators, is it truly you?"**_

Ravenor looked around before shouting, "show yourself now!"

"_**As you wish."**_ Seconds later, the light began building up in front of them before taking shape. The light-hardened into metal as a sphere object with floating panels surrounding it. A large eye appeared to be the 'face' of the machine and its core seemed to glow a light blue. The machine moved closer to the group and scanned them with a blue light before gasping in shock and moving back.

"_Y-you've truly returned creators! Humanity has once more arise from its ashes! YEEEHAHAHA!"_ The machine began flying around in joy while the security ones 'cheered' in agreement. The humans meanwhile were dumbstruck with shock at what they heard and were currently witnessing.

Deciding to break the excitement, Ravenor stepped forward. "STOP!" Everything stopped from the force of his voice.

Seeing he got everyone's attention, he waved the machine clearly in charge of the facility. "While I'm glad you lot are happy and such, what exactly is GOING ON!?" His voice vibrated through the hallway.

"_Apologies. I simply got carried away."_ And with a simple command, all the defenses retracted back in place as the group was released.

Dusting himself, Benixa looked up to the machine. "You are you exactly?"

"_My name is 521-Tangent Sparks of this facility. I was assigned by the creators to become the caretaker of the place and guard all of its knowledge from our enemies."_ Came to the reply.

"And what is this place?"

"_One of our greatest storages of knowledge in human space. Everything from history, technology, science, and many others. And seeing that none of the previous humans are alive, you're all now inheriting this place. I am under your command now."_ Tangent informed the group.

Mutterings of surprise were heard among the assembled scribes which Ravenor ignored as he stepped forth to the ancient machine.

"521-Tangent Sparks, as you are now under our service, I request that you open the library and everything it has to us and activate all the machines." He ordered.

"_Would you prefer that I also activate the others?"_ Tangent inquired.

This confused Ravenor. "Others ones?"

"_Ah yes. You see, while we were having a conversation, I took the liberty to sweep through your databases on your ships for information. I noticed the information of intact tech and infrastructure of my creators. I can send a command sequence that will fully activate them into operational status. I must say your Machine Spirits are very respectful and generous once placated."_

Ravenor thought for a moment before nodding. "Do it."

**[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]**

Core World Primus Tatil, Metris City

Activities in Metris was the same as ever for years since it was founded. The city was a bustle with people going about on their business in their home. At the center of the grand city was a massive complex of ancient infrastructures clearly made by Humans pre-dating the Imperium by hundreds of thousands of years. It was a sight many people enjoyed seeing in their city.

A faint, white flash occurs on the tallest tower of the structures, grabbing the attention of many eyes before being dismissed as a mere trick of the light. Suddenly without warning, a low rumble was heard rocketing through the city as all activity comes to a halt. Confusion spread through everyone as they tried to pinpoint the cause. Shouts of surprise and shock begin rising as citizens witness the formerly dormant infrastructures activating with a hum of power. Structures begin expanding and forming as the ancient machines groaned from pressure after countless millennium of inactivity. Minutes of tremors stopped as people watched in awe of their ancestor's memory become active once more. Basking in the glory of the sunlight stood a proudly First Ascension technology showcasing its beauty.

**[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]**

Agri-World Arcerus

Farmers and machines were harvesting crops in a large field with a few stopping to take a small glance at an old metal tower sitting in the background once in awhile. Members of the Mechanicus had told them the structure is very old and dormant without any specific energy, which they didn't have in order to wake it. Many were disappointed by this news since they had been eager before to witness such an ancient relic become active. None knew of the surprise they would be receiving.

A large tremor cut through the field as everyone stopped to balance themselves from falling. A large cry broke everyone's concentration.

"Look, the tower! It's rising!"

True to his word, the tower was indeed rising from the ground. What happened next caught them by surprise. Immediately, the ground below and surrounding the building exploded upwards as more structures rose from the ground along with others away. The men watched in silent shock as ancient infrastructures rose from the ground around them like earthen pillars of rocks. Large platforms rose higher in the sky while massive buildings expanded outwards once exiting the ground as matter built up and formed solid materials to contribute to the mass.

The tremors soon stopped once everything broke through the surface as the farmers witnessed the ancient facility finish building itself and stood presented to the world.

**[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]**

Hive World Toscana

Traffic around the planet and its three moons were quite boring for many of the operatives manning the watch stations guarding the perimeter. Nothing interesting ever happened in this section of space in their careers.

One of the operatives was going through his shift at the controls and was attempting finding something to distract himself to prevent boredom until one of the scanners began giving off readings. The man took one moment to read the results before his eyes widened in disbelief and rapidly started typing at a cogitator. Minutes later, another operative barged into the room and looked at the readings.

"Are you sure the readings are correct, Stan?"

The man identified as Stan grunted in annoyance. "I'm sure of it. I doubled checked the readings and made another scan. And before you say it, there is no glitch in the system. Enginseers already checked the systems two days ago."

"But this still can't be right. The readings are indicating that the energy is occurring in the Toscana II moon! Nothing explains how this is happening." An alarm interrupts the man's confusion as monitors start bringing in new data. Stan quickly rushes to read the new data.

"Sir, the Moon! Toscana II… it's breaking apart! The energy levels are increasing at an unnatural rate!"

Sure enough, the two men witnessed Toscana II, one of the moons of Toscana shattering through the screens as something inside forced the celestial body apart into fragments.

"Warn the defenses to maneuver themselves out of the way and to go after the larger pieces before they can hit the world." The man failed to notice his partner gaping at the screen while he ranted out orders. Minutes of ordering went by before he noticed his distracted friend. "Stan, are you even listening? Get to the controls and…" His tirade is stopped when Stan grabs his head and forces him to face the screen, shutting him up. Occupying the space where the former moon Toscana II stood was a humongous station that they soon realized has been the one giving off the high-energy readings.

"Stan," the man spoke slowly, "inform the planetary governor of this new revelation. An ancient tech of our ancestors just destroyed one of the moons."

All over the Imperium of Humanity's territory, the technology of the First Ascension woke up after hundreds of thousands of years of inactivity. Ready to do be utilized by Humanity once more.

* * *

**Two weeks after opening the Library of the Ancients**

Voltas was a source of heavy activity ever since it has been opened. The Administrate had swarmed the place once Tangent had given them permission to go through the archives.

"I need you three to go through all the rooms and terminals containing any info of species that our ancestors have had contact with. I want it all on my desk by the next day." Ravenor requested to several scribes as they nodded in confirmation and took off. He sighed a bit after they left. Finding the information was harder than he had originally thought before. The inactivity the library had gone through meant that entire chambers and areas were sealed off and needed to be manually opened. So far, a good deal of the place had been opened but there was still work left to do.

"Agente Ravenor!" A voice rang out behind him.

He turned around to see a scribe of his retinue running up to him before stopping in front of him and trying to catch his breath. "We…found…something…extraordinary and…mind breaking." The scribe wheezed out in a shacking voice. Clearly, he had been running a lot if was really out of breath.

Ravenor cocked an eyebrow. "What exactly did you find that would leave you gasping for air?"

The scribe scowled a bit before tacking in a deep breath to calm himself. "I'm not sure what we found but it's something you need to see now." He started walking down the hallway while indicating Ravenor to follow him. The two men walked through the hallways that were filled with all members of the Administrate and Librarians who were all busy cataloging the wealth of knowledge.

Soon, they stopped at a set of doors was currently guarded by several Silone drones. The scribe ignored them while walking up to the doors and pressing some command keys on a panel. He finished typing the last keys before the doors slowly opened and the drones moved aside to admit them in. Entering through, the two men found themselves in a large cavern that Ravenor estimated to be around two hundred meters in both length and width with the height of the room at one hundred and ten meters. But that's not what caught his attention. Rather the presence of a massive hologram of the galaxy which was clearly detailed and refined to such a degree that it looked as though someone took a real galaxy and shrunk it before dumping in this room. The technology of this holo was, in Ravenor's opinion, superior to anything else he had seen.

"What is…this?" Ravenor asked in silent awe while inspecting the rest of the holo-image of the galaxy. He noticed there were already other people in the room that too were inspecting the tech.

"_What you are currently looking at is the present image of our galaxy, Galaxia. Every star position, clusters and planets are positioned in the hologram exactly as their real-life counterparts."_ Tangent's voice cut in while he floated next to Ravenor, who failed to notice his presence at first before correcting himself. _"We referred it as the Watcher of Stars."_ The men could hear the pride in his voice.

"Wait," said Ravenor while turning to face the monitor, "you said that this gives a full-time view of our galaxy?"

"_Indeed it does."_ Tangent turned to the hologram to show them. _"Watcher, show Terra and the Sol System."_ Surprise and awe were plastered in everyone's face have the hologram suddenly began zooming at a specific arm of the galaxy and past countless starts before stopping at a particular one. It took Ravenor a few seconds to realize that he was looking at Terra: the capitol and birthplace of Humanity and the Imperium of Humanity, through a 3-D camera. He could see the massive fleet of ships guarding the vital system along with ships moving back and forth across the room like in a simulation. Ravenor couldn't honestly describe the excitement he was currently going through at the show of advancement he was witnessing.

"Is this truly transmitting real-time?" An exited scribe asked Tangent.

"_Indeed it is, sadly, this is so far limited to only the Orion Arm and its surroundings. I've so far requested a recently activated facility to start manufacturing the probes required to finish completing this prize. Hopefully, by the end of the century, half of the Galaxia will be mapped and watched. I also must say, your defenses are quite similar to what your ancestors had before. I almost feel bad for anyone that would dare try to attack a bearer of the Mantle."_ Tangent remarked out loud.

"The Mantle? What exactly is it?" Ravenor was confused with this word.

Tangent stared at him in disbelief as though he just spoke blasphemy. "_WHAAAATT?!"_ He screeched out. _"How can you not know what it is? It is one of the most important ideals of your people and you don't know what it is? If you don't know what it means, then how do you know the word?"_

Ravenor scowled in irritation at Tangent's questions. "Other than you, the Covenant of the Mantle are the only ones who go around yammering about the 'Mantle' and other stuff."

Tangent paused after hearing this. _"The Covenant of the Mantle, just what exactly are they? Many of you keep making mentions of this group yet I'm unaware of what they are."_

"They're a coalition of different Xenos forming a single power with the ultimate goal of promoting and enforcing the Mantle. Or so we have from prisoners of war we extracted the information from. We're at war with them."

"_The species Agente,"_ Tangent droned out while in his thoughts, _"what are they made up of?"_

"From what we know, they're composed of the San'Shayum, the Sangheili, the Jiralhanae, the Unggoy, the Yamne'e, the Kig-Yar, the Lekgolo, and the Hurogok. Although the last one isn't really trying to kill so we don't to the same." He spoke thoughtfully before returning his attention to Tangent, who was slowly digesting the information.

"_Three of the Mantle's races are still alive with another taking the original's one place,"_ Tangent whispered to himself. Ravenor had to strain himself to hear what he said. "Ummm, I'm sorry, can you repeat what you had said? Didn't quite catch it."

"_I said that three of the Mantle's races are still alive, not counting ours and another had theirs replaced with a successor,"_ Tangent said excitingly without bothering to tell Ravenor why.

"Whoa whoa, slow down! Races of the Mantle? What about us? You're not making any sense at all!" Ravenor demanded.

Tangent 'sighed' from his request. _"You better sit this one down because it's going to be a long story. Now, where to start…"_

* * *

Codex: Imperium of Humanity

Watcher of the Stars: _a highly sophisticated work of hologram technology. This machine incorporates the use of special probes that transmit using what is suspected is reversed-engineered Precursor tech that allows a 3-D, real-time view. Humanity designed in the late stages of the First Ascension during their war in an effort to be able to effectively watch their borders and see the movement of their enemies in their own territory. Unfortunately, the probes were only able to spread around the Orion Arm and its surroundings before the Forerunners defeated Humanity and stripped them of their technology. It has been dormant for ages until recently recovered by the Imperium of Humanity._

Silone Drone: _A First Ascension drone that is designated as infantry for the armies of Humanity, as such, they use their numbers to defeat their opponents with overwhelming firepower and numbers. Geared with moderate shields and A.I intelligence compared to the more recent Spherion Drones that had entered late. Armed with two Zeus blasters and a single Screech, it is very dangerous when confronted with numbers._

Zeus Blaster: _a weapon that fires concentrated electric energy into a single beam. Its properties are unknown only that when fired against an armored target, the victim will be fried whereas an unprotected target will simply explode from the sheer amount of power coursing through the body. The gun is very effective in knocking down shields in a single blast but unfortunately, has a charge up timer._

Screech: _working similar on the Imperium's sonic weapons except for much more advance. Like any other sonic weapon, a single hit will both shatter the shields of any opponent and liquefy their organs from the shockwave, effectively making an instant-kill weapon. The only difference is that its range is much longer, fields a superior power cell, and much more powerful._

Silent Guard: _an organization working on the same foundations as the Emperor's Custodian Guards. Utilizing a very rare form of psychic energy that is deeply connected with the Cosmo's dark space (i.e. its shadow) known as the Warp's Darkness, the early Humans had managed to isolate and create to work only for a human. The training is very brutal and few survive to ever make to the final test. However, once they do pass, they become one of the most dangerous warriors but also one of the most at risk with corruption from their abilities. Dressed in grabs of black, they are quiet men that have little to no fear since they seem to know of something far worse but have declined to tell anyone outside their group with the exception of the God-Emperor._

The Warp's Darkness: _there is little information concerning this type of psychic energy save for the fact that Humanity is the only race that has shown the ability to harness this power remarkably without falling to corruption easily. It is known that when a being assimilates with this ability, they must fight a constant war in their mind to prevent themselves from falling to the dark nature of the Cosmos and the Warp. As this nature contains things that could make even the Ruinous Powers pause in hesitation._

Library of the Ancients: _a planet-size library containing a treasure _trove_ of knowledge from the First Ascension. It is widely considered by the Imperium of Humanity as the largest relic of their past to be discovered in their history._

* * *

_**Attention all readers, before any of you start whining, I will take a short break on this story. **_

_**Reason why is that I need to clean up and upgrade the codexes since they're not very good and I need to add the Ancient Human one. So don't panic and think the worlds gonna end.**_

_**Don't forget to post reviews and comment!**_

_**Unto next time!**_

_**In tenebris metuunt.**_


	9. Chapter IX

***A lone door occupies the view before an explosion sends it to the other side of the room, followed with a screaming figure waving an electrical chainsword while riding a flaming motorcycle on two feet***

**OH YEAH I'M BAAACCK!**

***Geothermal jumps off the motorcycle, into the seat of the desk while the ride continues straight anyway and smashes through the wall, with background crashing and exploding occurring***

**Sorry for the long update guys. Had schools exams for college and suffered a slight writer's block for the moment. Took up a lot of my time in writing this chapter. Hopefully it will improve better later on to post faster. Now, to the reviews! Also, in case you guys haven't noticed, I've upgraded the Imperium and Covenant codex's with new information while the Ancient Humanity one will be coming up soon.**

_**The**_**_ Joining_: For 521-Tangent Sparks, think of a cross between a halo monitor and a destiny ghost. The Cabal, I won't had those jerks at all (don't ask why). or the Illuminati, it'll be a challenge to fit them in. And thanks!**

**_SPARTAN-626_: Thank you very much**

_**Kinunatz:**_** cliff hangers will be required in this story**

_**To Guest:**_** Again, Necrons and other species will appear when ready and the plot demands it. **

_**OBSERVER01: **_**thanks**

**Now...*dramatic moment*...I present you Chapter 9 of Galaxia's Wars along with a trailer in the end! Enjoy guys!**

* * *

**Learning the Forgotten**

_Ready to rain death unto our enemies with our eleven barrels of hell and crush them with our dreaded treads!_

_-Infamous Baneblade Gunner quote_

* * *

"…_Hundreds of thousands of years ago, when Galaxia was still silent of life, when our people were barely learning how to use a simple tool, there were the Precursors: an ancient race of unimaginable power and technology. Compared to us, we were nothing but a leaf against a raging cyclone. Immortal, limitless, and power rivaling a god, the Precursors were the undisputed power of the galaxy. They had arrived from their original Galaxy looking for a new home and to continue spreading a philosophy they had kept with them during the travels, the Mantle of Responsibility. Alas, it soon became clear it wasn't the case."_

"_Arriving from their hidden Webway was the Eldar race. One of the few living species traveling the stars in this galaxy, they were infuriated that the Precursors had dared tread on their home and demanded them to leave for good."_

"_The Precursors responded with a laugh and waved their threat as a bluff. They did not see the Eldar, as a threat for no matter how powerful they were they still could not hope to match the power of an older race. The arrogance of their race however blinded them of this fact and soon waged war against the Precursors."_

"_Years went by as both races traded blows with each other, planets were shattered, entire star systems ceased to exist, billions of lives were lost. There was attempts on both sides to end this war before it became worse but their voices were lost among the sea of anger. Unknown to the Eldar, they were winning the war against the Precursors."_

"_The Precursors were indeed powerful and nearly unbeatable, but their enemies fought with powers and weapons of deadly effect and something was seeping inside of them. A plague, the likes they have never seen before was killing their numbers. Slowly poisoning their minds and warping their bodies until nothing but rot and horror was left. Attempts were made to understand this mysterious illness but nothing of their knowledge could break it. For a moment, it looked as though the mighty Precursor Empire would slowly die out from war and plague before they could hope to choose a native species to continue the Mantle. But all was not lost."_

"_A single Precursor, his name forgotten through the winds of time, made a startling discovering that would cause an uproar among his people and have many question their own knowledge of the cosmos. Many of what is seen is not of this realm. The Precursors were well aware of the existence of separate dimensions where the universal laws worked entirely different and others that were similar to ours. Yet these realms were something they had never though could exist. Regions where emotions take shape, where nothing but death can exist, where darkness or light exists in pure form, and few others that are all woven in the very fabric of the cosmos."_

"_He realized that this galaxy, Galaxia, was a focusing point for all of these realms, the only of its kind where they crossed. He determined that one of the realm's energy was slowly poisoning them since they were not of this place. Only the inhabitants of this galaxy were immune from the deadly effects that would kill an outsider. Presenting his findings after countless years of research, the Precursors came to a conclusion; the Mantle must be passed to a new generation worthy of this responsibility, Reclaimers."_

"_Specific Precursors selected from their peers began dispersing among the stars as they sought fertile worlds capable of supporting or already holding sentient life and began the process of accelerating evolution without overstepping the boundaries of nature. What should have taken ages for evolution to progress only took numerous years for the Precursors to have multiple batches of species ready for the trials. Millennium passed as the Precursors watched their Reclaimer children slowly grow from primitive savages they were before to space-faring technological masters. Results were recorded, achievements were noted, the selected Precursors watched their assigned with great care as they let nature run its course."_

"_For the rest of the Precursors, time was of the essence. The war was still in its stalemate and they were becoming hard pressed to keep it up. They knew that unless their peers succeeded, all would be lost for naught. But a miracle seemed to have appeared, one of the Reclaimer races, referring themselves as the Forerunners, was showing remarkable progress and were achieving results better than all the others. They had already been in contact with their own selective Precursor and had learned to the rest of the galaxy and their fellow Reclaimers. At first, they seemed very promising: they had already progressed greatly in technology and have shown strength in the knowledge of war. But on a closer look showed something else. The Forerunners themselves were weak in the mind and did not have a strong soul against the realms. And beyond that, they were arrogant, something the Precursors did not expect to see. The Forerunners considered themselves superior above all their fellow Reclaimers and believed only they were worthy of holding the Mantle alone. To them, anything that wasn't them or Precursor was inferior and did not deserve the attention of the Mantle. Saddened by this revelation, the Precursors wrote the Forerunners off as failures and set their extermination date. Their attention quickly moved to the other species when the leader of several of the selective, Timeless One, reported complete success with multiple species with a small number showing promise of inheriting the Mantle. But much of these plans would be dashed later."_

"_Despite the security the Precursors set up to prevent their enemies from learning of their plans, the Eldars were able to wind up with much information, mostly regarding the soon-to-be-lost Forerunners. Realizing that they could gain a valuable pawn to defeat their hated enemies, the Eldar send an infiltrating group make contact with them. Contact was made but relations were tedious at best. At first, the Forerunners refused to believe the Eldars that their own mentor race would cast them aside; arrogantly clinging to the belief they were still favored. The Eldar tried using the info they had stole from the Precursors but quickly waved off as forgery. With one last try, the Eldar showed them the final decision of the Precursors to the Forerunners and their new attention to the rest of the Reclaimers. This time, there was no debut, no argument, no retort, and no accusation. The Forerunners watched silently at the new evidence as realization came to them. They shed tears at the fact they had indeed been cast aside, angered that they were considered unworthy, and raged that their cursed-mentors chose other 'weaklings' over them. Without hesitation, the Forerunners swore allegiance to the Eldars, to join forces and finally kill the Precursors once and for all."_

"_This all went unnoticed by the Precursors as their attention was now on some more promising candidates for time was short. Their numbers were lowering faster than they could replace and without much manpower, they were forced to abandoned large amounts of territory that could not be defended. The Mantle had to be passed soon before it was too late. Gathering all the assets, a total of 16 species had been brought forward after surviving their trials with only 7 of them showing the greatest possibility of success. However, before any of it could happen, disaster struck…"_

"_Attacking without warning, multiple areas flared up as Forerunner forces began lashing out throughout parts of the Precursor Empire. The Precursors quickly rallied themselves to the fight while the Reclaimers fell back to gather their armies and assist their mentor. The fighting became intensive; the Precursors were hesitant to strike down on one of their former Reclaimers while the Forerunners held no remorse in slaughtering their once-mentors. The war became desperate once the Eldar joined the fight and began cutting a devastating pathway through the empire. The Precursors were being pushed to their last legs and tried a last stand of survival, but alas, it was futile. They were overwhelmed, crushed and scattered to the winds. Not long afterwards, the rest of the Reclaimers arrived for battle, having fought their way through blockades and ambushes set up to slow them down, they came too late. Upon seeing the corpses of the believed-extinct Precursors, the Reclaimers broke down and wept in despair at the revelation of their mentor's death. Retreating to the safety of their regions, the Reclaimers quickly left the battlefield, knowing staying would mean destruction to them and loss of the Mantle but not before they made a final act. Before leaving, the seven prodigal Reclaimers faced the Forerunners and cursed them: cursing them for their foolishness, for their betrayal, their existence, and for turning their backs on the Mantle of Responsibility. They cursed that the Forerunner race will one day fall and vengeance will belong to the Precursors. And with that, the Reclaimers silently disappeared back to their homes."_

"_Unknown to both sides, the Precursors were not dead yet. Several were able to survive the massacre and seek safety in exile, but they were scattered. Few felt that the knowledge must be preserved and decided to entomb themselves in hidden vaults, waiting to be woken up once more by the Reclaimers in the future and perform their final wills. Others congregated on an unnamed planet as the last survivors gathered together. Talks were high, the plague, once slowly held in check before, now spread alarmingly through the last Precursors still awake. Realizing that their deaths were imminent, they waited for the plague to kill them once and for all, but that fate never came. The illness instead tortured and twisted them, bringing them pain they had never felt since they were once a young race. They screamed and begged for help of any kind to end this pain. In their agonizing moments, they were heard; a voice reached out and the pain lowered."_

"_The voice soothed their pain, it introduced itself as Nurgle, the Plague Father and the oldest of the Warp deities. He offered them the chance to join him, to become willing servants to spread his happiness and gifts while having a chance to get vengeance and protect their Reclaimers. The Precursors were hesitant at first; they knew he was a member of the Ruinous Powers and came from the Warp, the realm of emotions. That by swearing to him, they would be lost forever and that there would be death. But the pain was simply to great for their advance biology and they worried for their Reclaimers that could be driven to extinction should the Forerunners and Eldars choose to do so. Finally, the Precursors agreed to his demands in order to save themselves a little longer before fate took them. Suddenly, they began to transform as they slowly turned to hideous creatures and with their last ships, fled the galaxy to one of Galaxia's satellite galaxies to regroup, prepare, rebuild, and wait."_

"_With the destruction of the Precursor Empire, the Forerunners and Eldar began expanding their power and reach through parts of the galaxy. Meanwhile for the Reclaimers, they have been secretly building up weapons and numbers to finally avenge their mentors and punish the Forerunners and drive off the despised Eldar. Forming the alliance called the Inheritors of the Mantle, they launched a massive surprise attack and took them completely off guard. Destruction and death followed the IM's pathway as they cut through both Forerunner and Eldar territory. For a moment it seemed as though they would prevail and the IM would be victorious. But those hopes were dashed."_

"_The Eldar were the first to shake of their shock from the attacks and began rallying with the Forerunners lagging behind. The Eldar have always been the greatest pyskers in the galaxy since the Old Ones and understood the warp better than anyone else did. Using this advantage, they conjured massive warp storms of untold magnitude and unleashed them towards the IM. It did not take long for disasters to start occurring for the Reclaimers."_

"_The warp storms wrought devastation across their space as they desperately tried to halt them. But their knowledge in the Warp Realm was fractious compared to the other realms and with this price the losses were heavy. Many were lost in its chaotic swirls and in two cases; species were sucked in into oblivion and fed on by the denizens. A few wisely saw defeat in the future and disappeared without trace. Once the storms cleared up after expanding their energy, the Forerunners and Eldars swooped in on the remains and began destroying each Reclaimer race one by one. The fighting continued as several more Reclaimers were driven to extinction and others were completely broken for good. By the time the war was close to ending, only two prodigal and three other races were still fighting and were barely standing. But in the end, they too were defeated and broken and with that, the Inheritors of the Mantle died forever, as its last warrior was defeated. In a final act of humiliation, the Forerunners stripped the technology, worlds, everything of the surviving prodigals and confined them to their homeworlds as primitive savages once more. After this act, the two races turned their attention to destroying all surviving Precursor remains to prevent any of from being utilized by future races. The Precursors however had cleverly hidden a great deal of their technology and knowledge where their enemies would not find should they ever be defeated. Once again, Galaxia became silent as the Forerunners and Eldars took control of most of the galaxy. Time passed as both the Forerunners and Eldar ruled most of the galaxy unchallenged and believed themselves untouchable. Until they came…"_

"_Marching slowly across the stars from outside the galaxy, they screamed of death. They were known as the Flood. Twisted abominations of Nurgle, which to our dismay, were made of former Precursors. They swept through the star systems with their uncountable numbers as they forced both the Forerunners and Eldars on the defensive. World after world fell to the Flood and each had its life absorbed to boost their endless swarm. The Flood went forward on their quest to consume life yet they ignored countless worlds that did not hold life or contained sentient ones that had no part of this war. Whatever their reasons were, the Flood chose to spare these worlds from the horror. In act of desperation, the Eldars fled from their worlds and retreated into the webway where the Flood could not reach them, thus leaving the Forerunners to face the threat of the warp alone and surrounded. The Flood continued to march through the their worlds and consume them and forced the Forerunners in an every-shrinking territory. In an attempt similar to what the Eldars did, the Forerunners built massive fortress rings and shield-worlds containing Dyson Spheres in the Slipspace Realm, where time is meaningless and where the laws of the cosmos are useless. The Flood however had learned of this plan before it could occur and made a bold strike that completely cut the Forerunners off from their salvation. Once done, the Flood gathered every asset they had at disposal and made the largest invasion attack seen in the galaxy at the last Forerunner-held worlds. One by one, the worlds fell to the Flood's armies until only the homeworld, Ghibalb was left with the remaining Forerunner population. It was here where the Forerunners made their last stand against the onslaught and where the Flood threw everything they had into the battle. Years went by as titanic battles were fought on the surface as both side sought to be the ultimate winner in the end. But as time went by, the winner soon became clear: the Flood. The Forerunners were soon pushed back until only a handful were left and the surviving Flood assets prepared to deal the final blow to end the war once and for all. But the Forerunners had one last trick up their sleeve."_

"_Just as the Flood were about to massacre the last of their enemy, Julino-Uli, the super-massive star that the planet orbited, went hyper-nova. A catalyst explosion not seen since the birth of the cosmos erupted from that star, obliterating everything in its path including the remaining forces of the Flood and Forerunners. The explosion continued to spread onward, erasing more star systems from existence until it stopped suddenly, and began shrinking from a new force as it was pulled back. For where the star's core once was, a massive black hole was born in its place. It proceeded to swallow anything in its reach that had not been destroyed by the star's death until it became stabilized. Given the name of the 'Eternal Black Gate of Death', the Forerunner's meddling resulted it into a gateway to the Void Realm, where all matter ceases to exist and death is pure. Wit the war over; the galaxy became silent once more and both the Forerunners and Flood no longer existed with the Eldar unknown…"_

"…_And that is where the story ends."_ Tangent finished to his audience. _"Any questions?"_ He asked cheerfully.

Everyone was dumbfounded with what they had learned about their past. Hearing that their ancestors were once mighty and capable of waging wars with ancient species and _winning_ was quite mind boggling. A few were showing signs of brain meltdown from the overwhelming information. Agente Ravenor looked around the crowd to notice there were now more people then there were originally. Before, it was just a few scribes and he. Now is seemed Tangent's story attracted more people from librarians to guards and what looked like Primarch Magnu-"

He yelped in surprise, "Primarch Magnus the Red!" Ravenor announced as shot up on his feet. Loud scuffling was heard across the room as everyone scrambled to attention in the presence of one of their Emperor's sons.

Magnus smiled in amusement as he watched them try to present themselves orderly. Magnus himself was quite a tall man at 2.99 meters (9.8 ft), much higher than his father and the tallest human. He was currently wearing librarian robes rather than his armor but still left him an intimidating figure.

"Gentlemen," his booming voice echoed across the room, "there is no need for attention or any of this at all. Your all fine with where you all are." He ended with a smile.

Everyone loosened from their position but still stood to stand in respect for him regardless.

"Now then," Magnus turned to Ravenor, "I believe you have something important to mention to Tangent."

Ravenor snapped himself out of his stupor and returned his attention back to the A.I. "Tangent, if it wouldn't be too hard for you, can you give me all data banks regarding species that we are aware of?"

Tangent tilted his 'head' in puzzlement. _"Why so? Is it important?"_

"You might say I have a certain investigation that requires uncovering on who was responsible for destroying something of ours." He grimly responded.

"_About that…there might be a slight problem with that."_ Tangent answered sheepishly.

Ravenor seemed greatly confused with the answer along with others sharing his sentiment. "What do you mean?"

If Tangent had any feet right now, he would be shuffling them nervously at this moment. _"You see the data archive regarding existing species was one of the several ones that…well…failed to be brought up in time before our defeat at the Forerunners."_

Ravenor stood dumbfounded as his brain took several seconds to process this piece of news before he let out a loud 'WHAT!' in the room. "What do you mean that those specific archives failed to arrive in this library? This place is massive!"

Tangent glared at Ravenor. "_You try and document millions of archives and knowledge on a short time span with the enemy hounding on your back. What is in this library is what had been deemed vital for our descendants to know since it could be lost forever unlike certain others."_

Ravenor groaned in defeat as he massaged his temples from a growing headache processing these words. Seeing that the Agente was unavailable for the moment, Magnus decided to take charge of the conversation.

"Excuse me Tangent." Tangent turned to face the larger form of Magnus. "You said that these specific archives didn't arrive to this instillation, correct?"

"_That is correct. They had never been able to leave their temporary storage when we were defeated. If I had to take a guess, I'd say that these vaults still exist and if you really need the information, that's where they will be found."_

"Do you know where these vaults are located?" Inquired Magnus.

"_Hmm…lets see."_ Tangent quickly spurn around a floated to the panel controlling the Watcher of Stars and fired several beams of energy into it while muttering to himself unrecognizable words. _"AHA! I've found it!"_ Exclaimed Tangent.

Everyone gathered around the monitor as he inputted coordinates as the map changed from Terra to another star system, which several members quickly recognized.

"Its located in Nova Prime System?" Magnus asked with worry in his voice.

"_Why yes, it is. Is there something wrong with the system?"_ Tangent appeared a little worried upon hearing the Primarch's concern.

A grimace crossed Magnus's face. "It's not what's wrong with the star system but what's _on_ the only habitable planet." He looked at the Watcher. "Zoom in on the third planet of the star system and focus on the orbital plane," he commanded.

The machine complied as the hologram zoomed in on the requested world and it quickly became clear what the Primarch had meant. Surrounding the world were three fleets locked in a power struggle while at the same time fighting for control of the planet. Two of the fleets were recognized as the respective Imperium and Covenant while the third one appeared to belong to…

"Orks!?" A random guard cried out in surprise. "What in the blazes are they doing there? Nova Prime is too far away from any Ork empire to garner an attack." Murmurings of agreement were heard in the crowd.

"That's because there's a large space hulk in the center of the ork fleet." Informed Ravenor while joining the front of the group after recovering from his headache. "And we all know that hulks can appear virtually anywhere thanks to the random nature of the warp currents."

"_This is unacceptable!"_ Tangent cried out in anger. He spun towards Ravenor. _"If you want the archives, you're going to need to find the vaults holding them first. I will give you the command codes to help you locate them and allow you full access."_

Ravenor bowed his head in acknowledgment. "Thank you very much. Forward the codes to my ship while I gather my personal and make way for the mission." He turned around to exit the room but was quickly stopped by Magnus and one of the Silent Guards.

"If you don't mind Agente Ravenor, I will accompany you on your mission. It has been awhile since I have fought orks in the battle and my brother Lion El' Jonson is currently there. I'm sure he wouldn't mind some backup from me."

Nodding his head, he turned to the Silent Guard for his reasons. The Guard gave a slight tilt with his the head before Ravenor felt a presence in his head. _~It is our duty as the Silent Guard to watch over the library of Voltas and protect its valuable knowledge. However, with a piece of it residing on a world in danger, it is our responsibility to make sure it arrives back here whole. Our expertise will greatly help you in the battle~_

Ravenor would be lying to himself if he said he didn't appreciate their willingness to help him. Their help would greatly help his chances of recovering the missing archives along with the information he desperately needs.

"Very well, you will be coming with me. We leave now." Ravenor began heading for the exit with both men trailing behind.

**... ... ...**

High orbit above Archive world Voltas

Leaving one of the docking stations was the Agente's retinue along with two Battle Barges and several escorts of the Spartan Astartes Legion XV Sons of the Empyrean. Slipspace portals opened as the larger Battle barges led the way with the rest following behind in their wake until the entire group had left.

In the meantime, far in the back of the star system and outside of Imperial sensor range, a lone ship made of elegant design yet carried a malicious appearance to anyone silently broke off from its hiding place and sped away in the void. It kept speeding forward until it reached a large asteroid floating lonely in space. The ship quickly made for one of the large craters dotting the surface and in a flash of light, the ship disappeared without trace or any hint of its existence.

* * *

**Segmentum Ultima**

**Providence Karnix**

**Regional Castus**

**Sector Cronus**

**Sub-Sector Alidear**

**Nova Prime System**

**Agri-World Curwen**

**3.532.M36 (2 days later)**

"**WAAAAAAGGG-" **

Lion El' Jonson immediately silenced the annoying Nob with a fist to the face, covering his armor in gore and brain as a result. He quickly did a broad sweep with his fable Lion Sword, cutting down half a dozen orks before unleashing a solid wave of psychics at another large Nob, reducing it to paste on the ground. Lifting his blade he shouted, "Darkwing Guards! To me!"

Fighting around him were several dozen Dark Angels garbed in the Chapter's finest gear and wielding the greatest weapons forged in the Legion's armories. They were all veterans with centuries of experience and given position of protecting their gene-father. Hearing their Primarch call to them, they quickly finished off their present opponents and surrounded him while continuing to shoot down orks that got too close for comfort.

"Any relevant news Luther?" Shouted Jonson while gutting an armored Nob and blowing the upper body of another with his modified plasma cannon.

An armored Darkwing Guard next to him blasted several orks to oblivion with his Neutrino-pattern Plasrifle and parried a choppa chainsaw before dealing a deathblow at the owner with his own sword. "Reports are coming in that the 5th Jericho Army and the combined 7th and 10th Krieg Armies are fully engaged with the ork horde identified as WAAAGGGH Bonestomper!" Luther shouted back in response as he allowed his shields stop a large ork cleaver before proceeding to remove the head of the unfortunate owner.

"Damn!" was the only thing Jonson could say as he reduced more orks to scattered flesh with his psionics. "What of the Legion and the fleet?" came the question while incorporated his fire along with others in shredding a cluster of shoota boyz.

Luther spun around and fired point-blank, vaporizing the head of an unfortunate ork about to slay an injured Darkwing member. "The Legion is spread out, but Azrael is keeping them together! I just got word from Belial that his Deathwing is coming to reinforce us." He stopped as he thrusted his sword into an ork's chest and left it there while punching another one's head cleanly from the shoulders. He quickly blocked a blade with his plasrifle, unfortunately resulting in the weapon to display a damaged reactive core warning on his HUD. Cursing, he quickly tossed the now-turned 'grenade' at the orks, detonating in their mist and yanked his blade from the dying ork, effectively killing it and using the momentum of his action to diagonally cut another ork that tried to sneak up to him. "I can't seem to be able to vox the fleet for support or anything else! There's too much interference running around!"

"Then we're on our own for the moment." Jonson grimly responded. He hurled his sword through the air, cutting down multiple orks before embedding itself in the chest of a war-band boss. He raised his arm, causing the blade to rip itself out from the corpse and fly back into his hands as he swung it at another ork in a blink of an eye. The ork stood dumbly as it tried to figure out what just happened before it head slowly slide off the shoulders and unto the ground, shortly followed by the headless corpse.

A cry broke through the air as the Primarch spun around and saw one of his Darkwing Guards fall dead to the ground but not before having taken down more than half a dozen orks with him to the grave. In a fit of rage from the site, he rushed instantly above his fallen angel, surprising the nearby orks as he proceeded to brutally hack any of them with his sword if they got too close to the corpse while an Apothecary dragged the body in the defensive circle and started extracting the former Spartan's vital gene-seed.

In the meantime, his guards fought with renewed fury from the death of their brother as they killed orks left and right at an increasing rate. Astartes fired their weapons with renewed vigor while others swung their blades faster and more precision than before. Of course the fighting attracted more orks into the fray then what they would've preferred when their vox comms began picking up a transmission. _+This is Master of the Deathwing Belial! Hang in there, we're coming+_

Sure enough in the distance, multiple Thunderhawks could be seen speeding fast towards the battle. The air quickly became filled with lasfire as the transports fired their lascannons at the orks and launched missiles at any large clusters they saw, wiping entire swaths of them while lifting pressure from the Primarch and his guards. Thrusters kicked in as the Thunderhawks stopped above the Primarch and his guards and opened their bays. Jumping out of the ships was Belial himself leading several Deathwing Knights, the elite of the Deathwing Company. Renewed fighting began occurring once they joined the fray with their Maces of Absolution tearing through the orks with devastating effect while both their storm shields, plasma shields and centurion armor shrugged off any return attacks with ease. The knights cut a clear path through the horde with their powered maces as the rest of the company disembarked their transports and joined the battle with their superior armor and heavy weapons, turning the battle fully in favor of the Dark Angels.

"Ya dink dat you'z sperta astertes kin beat oz? I da warband boss Skullzer an' ya umies ar gona be krumpt an yer skullz mine!" Yelled an angry overly large ork boss covered head to toe in heavy armor pieces and held a kustom blasta in one hand and waved a big choppa chainsword in another while orks around him clearly under his command were being eliminated with extreme prejudice. "You'z umies dink dat yer da best 'ere? Da orkz iz da biggest en' da strongest onez 'ere, not you'z stoopid hoomies."

"If you think you're so much better than me, then come here and prove me wrong you puny excuse of a grot. Or do you hide behind that armor and your warriors because you're too scared?" Taunted Jonson to the large Nob.

The Nob's eyes bulged in rage at the insult as he roared in anger and charged straight at the Primarch while waving his choppa chainsword wildly. "WAAAAAAAGGHH!"

The Primarch put himself in a battle stance as he waited for the ork to get closer before rushing forward in an instant, faster than the eye could witness. Milliseconds later, the large Nob exploded in a shower of gore and blood the moment Jonson's psychic-enhanced fist smashed into the ork's body with tremendous force, resulting in a messy reaction.

The guard and Deathwing hurried over to their Primarch while he stood and casually dust himself of the blood and gore covering him. "Primarch, are you injured?" Luther worriedly asked Jonson.

Jonson shook his head, "none at all, Luther. That ork would need to better than that if he wished to harm me. Master Belial, I believe we should go now unless you wish to fight those orks approaching our position." He pointed his head for emphasis, causing everyone to turn their heads in the pointed direction and note the presence of a very large ork charge making a beeline for the Astartes.

"Then it's best we don't tarry around. Back to the transports everyone!" Ordered Belial after coming to a decision. No arguments were made as his orders were relayed and soon, all Spartans had embarked the transports and the Thunderhawks quickly left the region.

Jonson sat down on one of the craft's seats and took off his helmet while deciding to bring up a question that had been nagging his mind since the orks arrived at Curwen. "Belial, do you know the status of the fleets?"

Belial also removed his helmet including many others, revealing a face sporting several scars and centuries of experience. "Before the orks had made a landing, all available voxes had picked up a broad transmission from the fleets informing us that they've temporally fell back to reorganize themselves and will try to retake orbit control over the orks and Covenant."

"The fleet will be hard-pressed to accomplish that goal." Protested Luther out loud. "The ork fleet greatly outnumbers our fleet 5 to 1, not including the space hulk. And let us not forget the Covenant fleet."

"We won't need to worry about the Covenant of the Mantle now. They'll be too busy dealing with the orks to bother us unless they wish to open up another front." Belial retorted back. "Calls for aid have already been sent out and two BattleFleets have responded along with the Cronus Sector Fleet. Two more chapters of the legion are arriving in full force to assist us. We will prevail against the orks no matter what."

"Master Belial!" a voice rang out from the cockpit. Belial excused himself from the conversation and moved up to the front of the craft next to the pilot. "Yes, pilot?"

"We're nearly there at our defensive lines. Be warned however, there is reports of heavy combat in the area." Informed the pilot while angling the craft towards a region covered in flashes of light and dust. "I may not be able to get close enough to the battle without risking the craft itself."

"It won't matter much, get us as close as you can and drop us there. I want the Thunderhawks to join the battle in fire support. Understood?" asked Belial.

The pilot gave a brief salute, "crystal clear sir."

Belial left the cockpit and took his seat once more next to the Primarch. "Primarch, the pilot informed me we would soon arriving at our main lines. Due to the heavy combat, we won't be able to land directly into the field without any large risks of getting shot down."

Jonson understood what he meant. "Anyway to get us to battle without risks is fine by me. As long it doesn't involve dropping us too far."

"5 minutes before drop-off." Shouted the pilot.

Jonson picked up his helmet and placed it own his head, with others mirroring his actions. "All Darkwing and Deathwing units, prepare for battle once more. We will be dropping in hard." He announced in the vox.

**... ... ...**

Eastern Curwen Line

"Cover!"

Battle-Brother Vedial ducked in the trench as a Jericho soldier lifted a Nonlinear Heavy Rifle and fired a large laser-beam at the orks, destroying several trukks in the process. The wielder ducked behind the breastworks while Vedial's squad and several other Jericho units nearby rose back up and continued pouring fire into the orks.

"Orks on the right flank!" Hollered Sergeant Derekiel while bringing his Godwyn-pattern boltrifle and let loose controlled bursts at the announced targets. The rest of the squad under his command along with the Jericho units followed his orders and started turning their weapons towards the offending orks.

Multiple orks quickly tumbled to the ground covered in scorched holes or small chunks of their flesh missing with the concentrated fire focusing on them instead. The orks returned fire at a greater rate compared to what the Imperials were using, but due to the orks famous inaccuracy with their weapons, none of them had to seek cover. Despite the extreme fire the Imperials put up, several orks managed to make it through and charged into their mist. Those were quickly dispatched with ease as they returned their focus on the main ork horde trying to bypass their lines.

Vedial fired at any orks that got too close to the lines while letting others with long-range weapons deal with those farther away. His plasrifle continued firing dark-purple plasma at targets while burning away their hides in a gruesome manner. He briefly turned his head aside the moment massive explosions erupt nearby in front from artillery units trying to stem the tide of greenskins approaching the defenses. Through the hazy view of the dust-air, he spotted a large Squiggoth rampaging through the battle with orks riding on the back firing mounted guns at the lines, taking out numerous Imperials, or forcing many other to take cover, allowing many other orks to rush closer unhindered.

"Sergeant!" He shouted over the battle sounds. "We have enemy armor support damaging our lines!" Derekiel turned towards the direction he was pointing at and saw the Squiggoth.

"Aye, that's indeed a problem. Brother Ezekiel, take down that rampaging pig this instant!" Derekiel ordered to a squad-mate under his command armed with an Incinerator Ordinance.

"Sir!" He responded and aimed his launcher at the selected target. Pulling the trigger, his weapon charged up and fired a glowing missile at lightening speed, crossing the distance between in a blink of an eye. The ordinance exploded on the flank of the Squiggoth, causing it to rear up in a pain and squeal rather loudly from its searing injury, but not dead. Cursing his bad luck, Ezekiel waited for his Blitz to cycle another round and tried to aim once more but was forced along with the others into cover the moment the orks riding on its back that hasn't been thrown off earlier figured out the origin of the rocket and plastered the respective trench in the fire.

"By the Emperor! Brother, can you fire off another shot?" Shouted Avirek, another Battle-Brother of the squad.

"At this rate, I won't be able to stick my head out unless I'm geared with centurion armor or equipped with an advanced shield," Ezekiel grumbled out while ducking under the fire.

"You heard him, covering fire!" Derekiel ordered to everyone within earshot. Men complied as they aimed their weapons towards the injured Squiggoth and fired at the orks riding it. Lasfire, plasma, and bolter rounds struck the large beast as it screamed in pain from the punishment it was suffering from. The orks mounting it were forced to focus their fire on other targets, thus leaving them vulnerable to Ezekiel have another shot at the mount itself.

Before he could fire, however, a psychokinetic blast struck the Squiggoth, obliterating much of its body and killing for good. Irritated that someone stole his kill, his jaws dropped upon seeing it was his Primarch Lion El' Jonson, who had stuck the deathblow at the beast instead.

The closest defensive lines watched in awe as the Primarch of the Dark Angels Legion along with his Darkwing Guard and Deathwing Company smash through the flanks of the ork mob like a tidal wave, causing havoc among them.

"It's the Primarch himself! Victory is assured! Everyone charge!" A High-Captain shouted to everyone.

Battle cries were loosened from everyone's lips as Imperial men climbed out of their trenches and charge straight at the confused orks, who were now dealing with two forces on two sides rather than one. The first ones to reach the enemy were the Dark Angel Astartes coming to support their Primarch, next were the PDF wanting vengeance for their home and behind them were the Jericho forces covering their backs.

Caught between an anvil and hammer tactic, the ork mob was completely wiped out to the last orkoid extinguished and any lagers to the battle were routed.

Jonson wiped the blood off his blade on the corpse of an ork before sheathing it and turned to face the approaching from of Major Mitchel. "Surprised to see me major?"

Major Mitchel stifled a chuckle while bowing his head. "I will admit that I've never expected you to crash this battle with your elites, seeing how you placed an entire company with my men."

He cracked a grin at the comment. "Your battle was, unfortunately, the closest one we could find and judging from what I saw, there was a 'problem' that needed to be fixed."

Mitchel let out soft chuckles before sobering up and looking a bit serious. "While it would be nice to tell some jokes, I came to inform you that HQ had requested for you to come to the battle meeting."

Taking off his helmet, Jonson frowned at the new information. It's not unheard of HQ's on the battlefield would request the presence of a Primarch present in the area for advice including the fact they represent the highest authority rivaling the Council of High Lords. The fact that they hadn't called him up earlier meant that the battle probably wasn't going well and would need his expertise or permission for specific actions.

Thinking for a moment, he came to a decision. "Tell your superiors that I accept their request and will be arriving at the meeting. They can expect me in a few hours, give or take. There are several things I need to do."

The Major stuck his chest with his fist. "Understood, I will inform them." With a bow, he left to deliver the message.

Waiting for the Major to leave, Jonson turned to face Luther who was waiting patiently for him. "What was vital to tell me before the battle that only I could hear?"

Looking several directions to make sure no one was spying, he produced a holo-pad to the Primarch. "The Legion received a communication message just a while ago. Prioritized as Protocol Prime-Legion 2D/7155Gamma."

Jonson's eyes widened upon hearing the security level of the message. There were only a handful of people who knew of its existence and even fewer who had access to utilize it. He instantly knew that the contents of the message were vital and meant only for him to see and nobody else unless specified.

"Thank you very much for bringing this up to me. You can leave me now." He calmly spoke to Luther.

His sentence drew a look of surprise from Luther. "Primarch, are you certain of this?"

"I'm very certain of this Luther." He waved off the concerns, "there is no need to worry about me. There is no danger at all."

"I-I understand my Primarch, I will leave you alone." With a defeated sigh, Luther left to continue directing the defenses along with Belial. Once certain that he is truly alone, Jonson opens the message to see the contents. A recording soon begins playing upon activation.

"_My brother, listen to my words carefully. I bring news that must come to your attention."_

* * *

**Unknown location**

**N/A.M36**

Agonizing screams were heard in the air as a figure strode through the darkened hallways. While those cries would've driven anyone to their knees in fear, the figure paid no heed to it. If the halls had sufficient light, a razor-thin smile would've been seen gracing his face.

Coming to a stop in front of a door where the screams were originating. The cries came to an abrupt stop before the door had opened. Entering in, he could see the corpse of a female human dragged to the other side of the room, covered in countless deep cuts and missing most of her skin and pieces of the flesh. The body was dumped unceremoniously on the side of the large room, next to a pile of other corpses of other species. In the center of the room was a wraithbone table covered in all sorts of blood and bits of gore, with fresh dark-red blood pooling. Above in the ceiling, were countless hooks, holding organs, limbs, and what seemed to be a body made up of only organ and muscle held together, he was certain he could hear muffled cries of agony coming from it.

A disappointing sigh was heard as the figure looked in the direction to see Archon Asdrabael Vect calmly wipe a razor-sharp curved dagger covered in blood with a cloth. "I rather hoped she would last long enough for me before her injuries caught up." Lifting the blade to the light, an eerie glow passed across the gleaming metal. "Her willpower was impressive and gave me much enjoyment in breaking her apart. Alas, it seems that humans will still try to fight back even when helpless against a torturer."

Satisfied with the state of the blade, he placed it back onto another table filled with all sorts of wicked looking blades, metal containers, needle-like pins of different styles, glasses filled with ominous liquids, and countless others with no names since they can't even be described at all. He looked at the figure. "Report."

"We've tracked the human's last destination and…" He wasn't sure how to tell him.

"And what?" Asdrabael had picked up another knife in the meantime, this one with jagged teeth on one side.

"The 'Imperium of Humanity'," he spoke the name sarcastically, "have found an installation of the _Wielders of the Mantle_." He spat the last name as though it was poison. After all, it was the ancient human empire hundreds of thousands of years ago and the Eldar's greatest enemy before they were defeated shortly after the Precursor's fall.

"Hmm…this is indeed unexpected news to hear. Tell me, have they found what they've been looking for?" He held the knife in the light, causing the blade to 'shine'.

"It appears they still don't, we've tracked the agent's ship immediately departure of the system along with several extra ships. We've only caught snippets of their transmissions but I suspect they're close to finding their objective."

"Disturbing news indeed, not all of the pieces are in place yet." Staring at the Eldar with a cold gaze, he spoke an icy tone. "Ensure that the agent either doesn't arrive at the destination, cannot retrieve his objective, or if not, delay his return as long as possible until everything is set." Walking up to him, he spoke lower, but darker tone. "Do not fail this mission for the consequences will be…rather unfortunate, Kelith Vesperax."

The identified Kelith bowed his head. "I understand Archon. I will not fail this." Turning to leave his master to his enjoyment, he didn't make it to the doors."

"My dear Kelith, why don't you stay here for a bit and enjoy this moment. My marauders have made…an interesting catch that you'll enjoy." He finished with a devious smile. "Bring her in."

Wondering what he meant, he waited for the door to open and was taken aback by surprise upon seeing what the four Eldar were dragging in their arms. "Is that…?"

"Yes," Asdrabael spoke in a sadist's voice. "Two dear cousins from the legendary craftworlds that thought to have been destroyed along with our doomed empire ages ago. Including the fact both are strong warriors in their own right."

In their arms was a male Eldar quite tall and had a strong build built from centuries of rigorous working in the field and was garbed in clothing colored in a combination of different colors, something meant to camouflage the wearer in the terrain Kelith mused to himself. He had short, golden-silk hair with sharp green eyes. The other one was a female Eldar garbed in clothing colored in a combination of different colors, something similar to the older one's except sleeker. She was young for an Eldar, barley an adult. She had silk-like raven hair and soft brown eyes with obvious willpower. Anyone else would have found her quite beautiful with her sleek body and remarkable feature, but he wasn't interested in that, he was excited at the prospect of new victims, especially of their type.

"I must say, my little dear. What is your name?" Asdrabael asked her while dragging a hand across her face.

Rather than get a normal response, she spat in his face. "Do not speak to me like that you sadistic murderers. We won't let you have the pleasure of breaking us." She snarled at him in hatred. It was obvious that she truly believed that she could outlast anything they would throw at her.

Kelith let loose a haughty laughter with her answer. "What makes you think we want answers?

The Male prisoner appeared confused with this. "If you did not capture us for information, then what do you want for us for?"

Slowly dragging the knife across the palm of his hand, drawing bits a blood, "what we want is your…pain for our enjoyment." He drawled out this answer.

It took a few moments for the answer to sink in before their eyes widened in disbelief and fear. "You-you can't do this!" exclaimed the younger female in panic."

"This borders on the worship for She Who Thirsts. It is outrageous." The male Eldar angrily said. Kelith didn't like his attitude and strode forward before delivering strike across his face, drawing blood in the process.

"Dreychias!" Cried out the younger one.

"Do not speak in that way to the Archon on his ship and never speak of that name anywhere here unless you wish to lose that rogue tongue of yours!" Kelith angrily shouted to the upstart before calming down. "And nice name Dreychias, it suits you well." He remarked dryly as a pointer. Looking at the young Eldar, he suspected they knew each other very well seeing that she called out to him worryingly, almost as though they were siblings. "And you, again, what is your name? I would hate to ask once more."

She squirmed under his gaze before answering, "Arcedia."

"A beautiful name to have my dear," Asdrabael commented, rather gleefully. "We will all have a very enjoying moment together." He chuckled darkly before turning serious. "Clamp her to the side of the room and secure him to the table." He ordered.

"NO!" Arcedia cried out as she was dragged to her place next to the decaying corpses and locked to a chain connected to the wall. In the meantime, Dreychias was brought to the table a violently placed on the surface, hooking his limbs into place to restrict his movement.

"Ah, the pain you will give off will be refreshing for us! And luckily, you will be kept alive for as long as possible until we feel merciful."

"And how long will that be?" Dreychias asked in a dry tone.

"Oh, around seven to nine centuries give or take. Not that it would matter much to you in the end."

"Your actions and the rest of your kin would not go unnoticed! The Seer Councils will learn of this including the other species." Arcedia yelled out from her place, immediately silence with a boot to the abdominal.

"Your council may learn of this of course, but it would be far late when it happens. As for the other species," his expression grew darkly sadistic, "they're barely aware of our presence."

"What do you mean?" Dreychias asked although he feared the answer.

"Why don't we find out?" Asdrabael turned to two of the Dark Eldar. "Bring him in." They both nodded their heads and left the room. Minutes passed as the two Craftworld Eldar tried to figure out what he meant until sounds of grunting and growling could be heard along with swearing in a foreign language. The door opened to admit the two Eldar once more this time with a human male in their arms thrashing about.

"A Mon'Keigh? They're still alive?" Dreychias exclaimed in surprise. "I thought they died along with the storms after our fall."

Kelith snorted at him. "Do you really think that the humans would let storms break them apart and drive them to extinction?"

"Anyway," Asdrabael deciding to cut in, "these humans have been making fine slaves to do my will in achieving my grand plan." He smiled leery at the human, who spat at him and growled out curses.

Walking over to the table, he picked out a strange blade that glowed a strange green energy coating it. "A good deal of my plans would have never been successful if it weren't for the discovery of the mythical Vathal, the last of its name." Bringing the blade out, the dagger measured at thirty-six centimeters. with an obsidian hilt and an unknown dark-green metal forming the blade and grip handle. Dark wisps flowed out of the metal itself and soft whispering could be heard emitting from it.

"Those cut with its sharpness are forever lost to the wielder's thoughts and dreams. A mere shadow of themselves." Finishing his explanation, he spun around and with a single move, plugged the blade into the heart of the human. The human howled in pain as he started to thrash around and spasm as the affects took hold.

"W-what's happening to him? What did you do?" Arcedia horrifyingly asked.

"He's changing, twisting to my whims and shaping to my will." As he spoke, the human's body spasm out harshly and his muscles contracted rigidly, almost breaking. He thrashed out one last try before letting loose a single cry of defiance before slumping down silent.

Silence dominated the room until the Archon spoke, "rise now, my slave." Slowly, the human got to its feet and to the shock of the imprisoned Eldar, his eyes, which had silvery-iris before, now had black orbs instead. Where he had a pained expression, now it carried an emotionless one.

Waving a hand forward, "go forth and enjoy your new toy." Asdrabael commanded the former-human. Giving a slow nod in acknowledgment, the thing walked over to the table and picked up a razor knife before moving towards the table. Realizing what was happening, Dreychias tried in vain to free himself from his bonds but was quickly proved futile. The former-human stood over him with the knife as Asdrabael stood on the other side with a gleeful grin on his face. "We will have a very, enjoyable conversation together. You may start now." Nodding its head, it carefully lowered the blade in preparation for torture.

Outside the room, screams of agony and fear could be heard cutting through the air accompanied by the crazed laughter of those who reveled in it.

* * *

Imperial Codex:

Nonlinear Heavy Rifle: _a weapon that charges up fires a devastating beam of laser with the capacity of slicing easily through thick armor and cutting down entire lines of forces with a single sweep of it._

Incinerator Ordinance: _a missile launcher that fires a missile that homes on any target and upon detonation, baths them in searing heat capable of melting armor._

Patterns: _weapons from lascarbines to boltrifles come with patterns that change the variant of the gun to work in different conditions or favored by the wielder._

Thunderhawks: _the transportation gunship of the Spartan Astarte legions. They can carry 3-4 squads in their holds, depending on equipment. Weapons: three lascannons and vortex missile pods._

* * *

**And that's for Chapter 9.**

**Don't forget to review and like guys!**

**The Imperium must find a hidden catch of information vital to their mission. Will the orks get to it first instead? What is the Dark Eldar planning? Will they succeed or hopefully fail?**

**Find out next on Galaxia's Wars!**

**Obscura, multa arcana tenet diu oblitus.**

**Trailer for a new enemy of my own creation (Admittedly based off another one) that will appear later on in the story. Enjoy!**

* * *

[_Camera pans on a desert plain_]

Moving through was a group of seven figures wearing heavy cloaks to protect them from the sand trudged through the desert. Looking around the land, they appeared to be searching for something.

"How far is our target?" Complained one of the men. [_Camera focuses on the third soldier_] "We've been walking for hours without any findings."

"Quit complaining Jared. [_Focusing on the fifth man_] The boss is certain it's here and by Jove, we will find it."

"And just what exactly, [_sixth man_] are we looking for Virden? We weren't exactly informed."

"I don't know guys. [_Virden_] Your guess is as good as mine." He grunted out.

"I hope it's worth it." Another voice joined in [_ the seventh man_]. "Being outside of Imperium space doesn't feel right."

A man snorted at the statement [_second man_]. "We're Insurrectionist Cornell, the Imperium would prefer to see us dead than alive."

"I know that Ritter, [_Cornell_] but it's much safer to be hidden in a powerful empire that hates your guts than outside in the frontier where everything hates you." He points out.

"Quite everyone!" A new voice breaks in the conversation [_fourth man_] as everyone looked at the man. "The boss seems to be doing something, look." Looking towards the direction, they could see him kneeling in front of a large rock formation. To everybody's confusion, he takes out a mysterious red crystal and places it in a depressed section of the stone. The crystal sits their still for a moment before suddenly disappearing in a flash.

Silence hung over the group from the shocking event they witnessed before one of them tries to break it.

[_Jared_] "Err…what just happened?" Before anyone could answer, the ground began to shake.

[_Virden_] "EARTHQUAKE!" He shouted. "Call the fleet for extraction of our group and the others and notify-"

"No."[_Boss_] Came to the answer from him as he calmly stood to face the rock formation.

"But sir, [_Ritter_] if we stay here the earthquake will-" His protests are quickly cut off.

"This is no earthquake [_Boss_] men." He spread out his hands. "It is our salvation over the tyrant Imperium. Technology older than anything else in the cosmos and completely ancient for anything. A power that will make us nearly unstoppable against those who try to oppose us."

As though fate was listening, the entire land of the desert exploded upwards as massive stone and metal structures rose from the ground and floated everywhere in the air [_Camera slowly moves away from the group for view_]. Structures of unrecorded size dominate the landscape with their towering spires and pillars. Entire strips of land collapse inwards suddenly, creating enormous crevices with no apparent bottom as floating bodies formed together to create platforms.

The tremors soon subsided and allowed the group to finally witness first hand of the newly transformed landscape. All over the place, structures made entirely of stone filling the sky and covering the land. They could see beams of blue light emitting from different buildings and connecting with others. It was like one massive temple built by ancients except said ones are incredibly advance.

[_Cornell_] Touching the smooth surface of the stone. "What is this?"

[_ The fourth man_] "I don't know." He inspected a broken stone revealing strange metals under it. "Whatever it is, it's something completely beyond our understanding."

"Hey, guys check this out!" [_Pans to Jared_] Jared stood next to a metal statue standing around 1.98 meters. They noted that it had one large eye with four smaller ones making a diamond-shape around it on its half-cone-shaped headdress with a curved spike above the eyes. Its body appeared to shaped humanoid with exoskeleton structure similar to that of an insect but geometrically different, almost defying physics. On its chest is an empty hole where a sphere object would fit in. The statue was covered in dust with small signs of what appeared to be rust coating the surface. The group quickly noticed there were other statues like this one everywhere in the place.

"What do you suppose it is?" He asked while poking it with an old lascarbine pattern. It looked as though it was made from some sort of golden brass but the contact quickly proved his theory wrong.

[_Ritter_] "I don't know what its purpose is and please, Jared. Stop poking it with your gun." He demanded while pulling the younger man away from the statue. "It gives me the creeps."

"Enough chattering." [_Boss_] Everyone turned to face their leader holding a cube with glowing golden runes decorating the surface. "Call in the fleet, I want our boys on the planets ASAP so we can scourge the ruins and pick all advance things. Inform the other teams the same thing."

"Sir," [_Cornell_] asked while nervously holding an old Gutter Shotgun to his chest, "is it wise to pillage these ruins? Don't you think the ones who built this in the first place would've made sure no one can take things?"

The man chuckled a throaty laughter. "It won't matter in the end. We will take everything whether these ancients like it not."

[_Camera begins moving away from the group and enter a small crevice next to them_]

[Cornell]_Salvage Team to Discoverer, come in. We request excavation teams to be sent down on our position+_ [_Camera continues going down through metal tunnel and other pathways while the vox sounds vibrate thought the metal_]

_+*Fizzle sound*+_

_+I repeat Discover, come in. We request excavation teams to be sent down to our position. Come in+_

_+*Fizzle sound*+_

_+Sir, the fleet isn't responding. I've tried hailing the Discoverer+ _

[Boss]_Try hailing other ships+_

+[Cornell]_Idaho, come in+ _

_+*Fizzle sound*+_

_+Bermuda, come in+_

_+*Fizzle sound*+_

_+None of the other ships are responding either, sir. It's like their dead or something…wait, I'm getting a signal+_ [_Camera stops heading down and changes direction with moving on the right in another pathway while weaving through protruding edges_]

+[Unknown]_This is Dogma Tea*crackle*e're under attack by uni*crackle*ified forces. Our weapons are useless, *crackle* can't kill them+_

+[Cornell]_Dogma Team, what's going on+_

+[Unknown]_Brav*crackle*Haze teams are all dead! The fleets all gone! They're ove*crackle*ng us+_

+[Cornell]_What is attacking you Dogma+_

+[Unknown]_*crackle*etal beings. They turned alive…Cullen no! Fa*crackle*ack, we're getti-AAAGGHH-dead signal-+_

+[Cornell]_Dogma Team? Dogma Team, respond+_

+[Ritter]_Contacts on the right. _[Virden]_Contacts on the left._ [Jared]_More behind us and in front! We're surrounded.+_

+[Sixth man]_The statues are activating! They're machines+_

+[Boss]_Covering fire! I want them all dead+ _[_Camera begins slowing down while approaching an exit_]

+[Cornell]_We're getting overwhelmed! We need to fallba-_ [Jared]_AIIIIEEE-*gurgle*+_

+[Fourth man]_Jared is down! They're too powerful. They simply won't die+_ [Camera exits the tunnel and enters a large cavern with large platforms forming a floor while a bottomless chasm occupied below. View begins to move to the other side]

+[Boss]_Hold your ground men. I'm not about to let some mechanical pests stop me from acquiring this tech and bring the Imperial dogs down+_

+[Ritter]_Carl and Jackson are down! We can't stay here or we'll all die+_

+[Boss]_We'll retreat when I say so! Do me a favor and hold your line NOW+_

+[Ritter]_Frak you! I won't risk my life for some pile of rebel cra-*chizz*+_

+[Cornell]_Ritter is down! Sir, we need to leave now-_[Virden]_YAAUURGGH*chizz*+_

_+Virden's down too. We won't surv-*shizz*AAAAGGGHH-*chizz*+_

[Camera moves closer to a large figure standing on a small pillar with its arms spread out while passing through other motionless statues and empty gates. The large figure stands underneath a half-formed tripod of crystals emitting energy. The figure looks similar to the smaller ones except having broader shoulders and thicker chest. The head carries a crown of spikes on its head]

[Boss]_You lot thing you can take me down? I'll show you a thin-*chizz*AAAHHH! (whimpering voice) You bastards. I-I'll make you all pay for th-*braze*+ _

Golden light begins to appear across the body and enveloping it while a humming sound occurs. Slowly, the pillar lowers down while the torso of the figure moves around at an one-eighty-degree angle and its arms twist around. Similar actions are copied with other statues as they start activating.

With a final large glow, the large figure explodes in movement [_Camera shakes slightly_]. It looks around to watch the rest move once more after ages of inactivity.

Suddenly, it lifts its head slightly the moment it felt a contact. Deep in its geometrical mind, thousands of algorithm patterns, symmetrical lines and countless more complexes moved across space at outstanding speed. The contact communicated with the machine in methods that any beings not of theirs wouldn't comprehend.

The figure answered firmly and the contact paused, before giving an answer. In its mind, hundreds of simulations passed through in an instant as it considered each one briefly before coming to a decision. It gave the contact a response before receiving a final message.

Satisfied with its orders, it strode forward passed many of its smaller brethren while approaching a large arc made from impossible geometric design and building. The center of the object activated with a bluish light, revealing a portal taking form before proceeding to enter it, disappearing from the cavern. The rest began glowing blue and stretching through space and time until disappearing from existence.


	10. Chapter X

**I. Am. Back with another CHAPTER!**

**I want to announce that the codex for Ancient Humanity might take longer than I expected. Turns out its harder than I originally hoped it would be. So don't expect it to come later for the moment, but I'm trying!**

**Now lets get down with reviews:**

**_SPARTAN-626_: Thanks again once more spartan. I worked really hard on that chapter to give you guys an aswome plot and scene. And no, it is not the Necrons, they won't make a cameo appearance until later on.**

**_The Joining_: You have no idea...**

**_OBSERVER01_: they aren't getting extinct. I need them alive.**

**Now...On to the story!**

* * *

**Breaking Open the Lock**

_You can cower in any corner, hide in any dark pit, run to the ends of the galaxy_

_But know this, no matter where you go we will hunt you down_

_No stone will be unturned, no crevice overlooked, no pit unnoticed_

_We will find you_

_And once we do, not even the Gods will save you_

_Our faces will be the last you see_

_Our voices the last you hear_

_Our name the last you ever utter_

_We are the Spec Ops_

_And we are the ends of everything_

_-Spec Ops motto_

* * *

**Star Cluster N/A**

**Star System N/A**

**CVO-Assualt Carrier _Shadow of Intent_**

**Eon of the Covenant-14****th**** Age of Conflict-Period of Unrest**

The looming form of the _Shadow of Intent_ silently hid along with her escorts in the dense ring band of a gas giant. Neither ships moved from their place nor dared activate any of their systems, worry of becoming detected by their mission target.

Two worlds away, their attention was fully fixed on a desolate world orbited the orange star of the system. The world was covered in raging storms and violent volcanic activity from the gravitational pull its parent star placed on the small world. To any observer, the world seemed to be only a death wish for anyone who dared live in it and there forth, should not be noticed. However, for the Covenant, it wasn't the world itself that contained their attention, rather, what is located on the surface of the planet.

Underneath the raging storms and deep in a mountain that dotted the surface along countless others and contained in the heart of a dead volcano, is a large Imperial outpost suspected of owning information the Covenant are searching for.

"Any word from the Arbiter and his team?" Fleetmaster Rtas inquired to the Sangheili bridge officer for what might have been the 26th time.

"Again, no." The officer answered once more. "He hasn't sent one since his team made planet fall two cycles* ago."

Rtas sank into his command chair and let out a sigh. Covenant intelligence had pinpointed an Imperial outpost that was located at the edge of human space while serving as a main linkage to multiple other outposts outside of territory and as a refueling station for exploration fleets heading into the unknown. Their agents had managed to uncover evidence pointing that their targets had passed through the outpost prior to their suppose disappearance. That was why the Arbiter himself was leading an infiltrating team to steal the information right under the human's nose.

Originally, the plan had been for the fleet to make a short-jump above the world and deploy strike-teams quickly on the surprised humans before a distress could be sent out.

Rtas himself had quickly turned down the plan once he heard it. He knew from past experience and the word of others that these specific types of outposts were usually protected with hidden traps and other defenses that only revealed once the station's safety had been compromised. He wasn't willing to risk the _Fleet of Uncovering_ merely because some young, overeager Sangheilis wanted glory. Didn't help much to lower his fears once scanners picked up anomalies and ghost signals in their scanners.

"How much longer can we hide from their scanners in this field?"

The officer frowned at the question. "I would say around seven cycles, nine if they focus somewhere lese more important in their minds."

"Not a lot time." Rtas muttered to himself. "Arbiter, whatever you're doing, do not take too long. It's only a matter of time before we're discovered and the mission becomes complicated."

**[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]**

Unknown world

The surface of the world would be to anyone's eyes, best described as a world trying to kill anything on its surface. The storms swept down powerful winds capable of tearing up the landscape while the volcanoes poured endless amounts of molten magma and destructive force to continuously reshape the land nonstop. Anything caught without a shelter or any sort of extreme protection risks dying a horrible death. This fact was quickly becoming a troubling case for Arbiter Thel 'Vadamee and his team as they carefully climbed down a cliff ledge of a mountain.

Taking slow steps and keeping himself close to the wall for leverage against the winds, he leaned over to see his target. At the other end of the ledge stood the form of an Imperial base sticking out of the mountainside, giving the appearance it had been carved out. Thel, however, knew that what he was seeing was merely the tip of the surface, most of the base would be inside the natural formation with only the entrances being the only ones sticking out.

Pausing for a moment, he turned to face the rest of his group all composed of Spec Ops: 6 Sangheilis, a Hurogok, 4 Jiralhanae, 9 Unggoys, and 7 Kig-Yars. All of them were geared with the latest tech in the field and were trained in everything they would need in missions. If there were a team that could break into a Human base and escape with the objective complete, it would be them.

The group continued inching forward until they reached what Thel suspected would be the outpost's carefully concealed hanger gates. Waiting for everyone to finally stand next to him, he lifted his hand and gave the Sangheili next to him a signal.

Nodding in understanding, he pulled a device out from his pouch and pressed a rune on the top.

Suddenly, in the distance, a large plasma explosion erupted out, causing a chain-reaction to form, resulting with the earth tearing itself apart from the unnatural disturbance. Planesecs* passed by as they waited for the outpost to react until their patience was soon rewarded. Vibrations could be felt in the walls accompanied with rumbling as Thel and the rest watched the doors open to release an aircraft out to investigate the unusual eruption.

Without a single word, the group activated their camouflage cloaks and quickly entered the hanger before the doors could lock them out.

With a resounding 'clang', the doors shut into place behind them and the hanger's light dimmed down into a red glow. Thel waited for several planesecs for any sign that they've been discovered before giving an all-clear signal to the rest of the group.

Relaxing their stance, the team huddled together while Thel gave them instructions. "Alright, do you all remember your positions?" Clear nods were given to him. "Good. To be on the safe side, let me refresh your memories."

Pointing at one of the Sangheili, "Xeth 'Juralenee, you will lead several of our fellows at locating the station's armory to deny the defenders of their weaponry." Xeth drew a line down his chest in acknowledgement. "Barkari," he turned to a large Jiralhanae, "you and your team will hold this hanger in case we need a quick exit to leave this place." Barkari gave a low grow in response to the order. "The rest of you along with Lighter-Than-Some, we head for the command room. Keep your cloaks up and be absolutely careful to prevent the Humans from discovering us. For the Mantle." He finished.

"For the Mantle." They all chorused.

Silently once more, the teams broke up into different directions with their objectives. Thel personally led the team's only Hurogok, three of the Sangheili, and four of the Kig-Yar. Xeth himself led the rest of the Sangheili and Kig-Yar with him along with one-third of the Unggoy in the group. Barkari stayed back in the hanger along with the rest of his pack brothers and the Unggoy, should an exit be needed.

... ... ...

Thel silently led his group through the hallways of the station. Each of their steps was carefully placed to stay silent while their movements were restricted to avoid distorting their cloaks to any hidden cameras to notice their presence.

At the end of the hall, Thel quickly gave signal to his group to stop. Obeying his command, they halted their movements for whatever caused him to cease movement.

The question is soon answered when a trio of Atlas machines marched crossed the hallway intersect in front of them. They held their breaths in as they watched the Human's machines scrutinized everything in sight, especially the moment one of them turned its receptor lenses at their direction but luckily didn't noticed them. Seemingly satisfied, the machines continued with their patrol and away from the group.

Thinking safe, one of the Kig-Yar let out a small exhale of breath he had be been holding back, but unfortunately let it out slightly louder.

The Atlases immediately snapped up their weapons at the direction their sharp hearing caught the sound from. While they weren't certain on what they heard, they knew however that the noise wasn't something you'd hear in these hallways.

The nervousness of the group increased as one of the machines moved closer to their location to investigate. Thel silently moved his free hand to hip and tightly gripped his energy sword while bringing his Helios rifle at its direction.

The Atlas stopped a few paces from him and activated its scanners.

In his head, Thel prayed that the special disrupters Lighter-Than-Some personally created would hide them from the Imperial scanners or the mission will quickly be botched up.

To his relief, the Atlas stopped scanning and walked back to its companions without any hints of aggression. The machine spoke in a garbled tongue that sounded like two metal plates scrapping together with electronic scrambling mixed in. Concluding together, they turned around and continued with their patrol, unaware of how close their companion had been to discovering the presence of an infiltrating party.

Waiting for the patrol to disappear around the bend of another hallway, Thel turned around angrily to face the cringing Kig-Yar who was attempting to make himself smaller.

"Sul 'Anoka. What part of keeping absolute silence did you not get?" he berated at the T'vaoan in a hushed yet sharp tone. "You nearly blew our position!"

Sul lowered his head in shame. "I apologies Arbiter, I had momentarily forgotten how sharp the hearing of the Human's machines are." Several of the group snorted at the explanation.

Thel silenced them with a glare and returned his attention. "That may be, but even you still know the importance of silence when infiltrating an enemy base protected with Precursor knows defenses. Am I clear?"

"You are clear."

Satisfied that he had been cleared, he faced the rest of the group. "The same goes for the rest you. If we don't, the mission will fall in jeopardy without any of the objectives completed."

"Understood Arbiter."

"Good then, we still move foreword with our goal."

Continuing their trek through the outpost, Thel led his group past multiple patrols and other avoidable areas as they headed closer to the command center. Finally, what felt like several cycles, they at last reached a set of double doors clearly barring the entrance to something important.

The group quickly took up places around the door while Thel gave one of the Sangheili in his group a signal with his hand. Nodding in understanding, the Spec Op moved silently to the doors and started carefully placing small Dirus charges on key areas of the doors. Meanwhile, Thel linked to his other teams through a hidden, heavily encrypted channel. _"This is Kyte Team, we have reached our objective. Respond."_ Planemins passed before answers came.

"_Xeth speaking, armory is in target. Be warned, we have had to eliminate a patrol recently to avoid immediate detection. Our time is now limited."_

"_Barkari here, hanger is still under our control, enemy drone craft had return without noticing us."_

Listening to the reports, Thel was proud that the mission had so far succeeded without a hitch. He knew however that the next planemins would reveal his presence whether he did it stealthily or not. _"Very well, ready yourselves for the incoming response. The breaching will shortly occur."_

Exiting off the communicator, he turned to see the Sangheili make the finishing touches to the charges and back off with the charge in his hands. He looked at Thel for permission to commence the breech. A nod was the only thing he needed to commence.

Flicking out another detonator from his pouch, he let a brief moment for his comrades to ready themselves before pressing the activation rune.

Explosions shook the hallway and rattled their hearing as the doors shattered from the overwhelming pressure. Instantly, the group was rushing through the former door and into the command center.

Inside the room, they could several Human technicians of the Mechanicus organization along with several Atlases for security in the mist of fazed from the sudden attack. However, they weren't given a moment of recovery.

Thel with his fellow Sangheili let loose with their weapons at the machines, quickly bringing them down while the T'vaoans rushed forward and eliminated the Humans quickly. In planesecs, the Imperial presence in the room was removed, as the group fanned for any survivors and made sure the fallen ones was truly dead.

"Fan out! Guard the entrance to discourage any reinforcements from retaking this center." Thel ordered at everyone. "Lighter-Than-Some! Get to their data center."

Lighter-Than-Some chirped and whistled in acknowledgment as he moved towards one of the Human's mainframes and began extending its tentacles into the data ports. Thousands of words and symbols raced across the screen, which the Hurogok understood instantly while searching for the information they needed.

"CONTACT!" Shouted one of T'vaoans while firing his weapon down the hallway, sending razor-sharp discs at several Atlases. Most of the machines promptly dodged the incoming fire with the rest reacting too slowly and paying the price with depleted shields.

The others brought their weapons quickly and fired a barrage of lasers. The T'vaoan's shield was quickly brought down and he was instantly shredded apart before he could cry in surprise.

"Take them down now!" Bellowed Thel while aiming his rifle, "we need to give Lighter more time to finish!" He pulled the trigger, sprayed the hallway with fire and forcing the Atlases to avoid it.

The rest of his team took full advantage of the action to start peppering the machines, resulting in some Atlases collapsing on the ground destroyed. Return fire was attempted, but Thel's team was well dug in the command room while the Atlases were out in the open without any cover.

Even with the concentrated fire, two Atlases managed to make it through and threw themselves into the group.

The first Atlas delivered an uppercut punch at one of the Sangheili, Tav 'Dakiree, shattering his shields and violently throwing his head back, almost breaking it. It followed the attack with a roundhouse kick at another T'vaoan, Sukerion. The metal foot struck the chest of the Kig-Yar and with an unmistakable 'crack', sent him flying at one of the panels and smash into it. Sukerion fell on the ground groaning in pain, leaving a deep dent in the machine.

The second Atlas had drawn a power knife from its sheath and was in the mist of dueling with Xat Nash 'Gadevee after having used it in severing the right arm of Sul 'Anoka and knocking out the Kig-Yar out.

Thel left that Atlas to be handled by Xat, instead focusing his attention on the first one. He watched it grab Tav's head and bring its knee up, smashing the appendage in his face and breaking the glass of his helmet. Tav howled in pain as he clutched his face in agony, not noticing the incoming fist. His cries quickly turned to gasps once the fist connected with his stomach, knocking the air out of him and caving in his armor from the force alone. The Atlas cocked its arm back to finish off the Sangheili until another pair of arms grabbed its. Instantly the machines view of the room was quickly replaced with a spinning 180 degree vision of it before coming in contact with the floor violently, causing sensors to blink warnings in its HUD.

Thel raised his fist to the air and brought it down to the head of the Atlas. The machine responded to the action quickly and moved its head aside, leaving him to strike the floor instead. The Atlas thrusted its head forward, forcing Thel to shift back to avoid it, allowing it to roll aside to a safe distance and jump to its feet in a fighting stance. Thel copied its action and set himself in a stance too. Both opponents stared at each other, waiting for the first one to make the move.

Deciding to make the first move, he launched himself at the Atlas thrusted a strike at its face. The Atlas rapidly brought its hand up and blocked the fist in its path. It quickly twisted his arm, causing Thel to shout in pain. He lashed his foot at its left knee, causing it to stagger and lessen its grip in his arm. Taking advantage of the opening, he used his interlocked arm to pull the machine towards him and deliver a right hook at its head. Sparks exploded from one of its receptors, signaling damage and restriction to its vision. The Atlas responded with a direct hit at Thel's abdominal, forcing him back to recover his air. He only had a few planesecs to recover before the Atlas crashed into him and nearly sent him falling down. He momentarily felt dazed from the impact before feeling adrenaline pump into his veins, allowing him to shake it off and bringing both of his arms down together, smashing many of the armor plates composing its back and causing more circuits to malfunction. The action caused Atlas to spasm out from the damage, resulting in its grip loosening on Thel, allowing him to break free. He backhanded harshly at its head, twisting it around and damaging its neck servos badly. Thel began delivering attacks across its body as the Atlas desperately tried to defend itself but its previous injuries impaired its reaction speed to the point it couldn't block everything.

Crushing its knee joint beyond use, Thel roughly grabbed its fully functioning right arm and with a pull, ripped it off its joint completely. The Atlas gave a mechanical scream of pain that stabbed Thel's ears harshly through the helmet. Taking the ripped arm in both hands, he swung it as hard as he could at the screaming Atlas's head, caving the metal shell protecting its data core inwards and silencing it for good.

He discarded the arm to the floor as he felt the adrenaline fade away from his body, leaving him exhausted from the fight and the pain from his injuries surfacing once more. His legs feeling weak to support his body, he would've fallen to the ground if he didn't feel a pair of hands catch him and slowly bring to the floor. He felt a needle penetrate through one of the openings in the neck guard of the armor and suddenly felt his strength return to his body.

"Arbiter!" A distance voice called to him. "Can you hear me?"

Shacking off the blurry vision covering his senses, Thel quickly notice the presence of Xat above his vision. Turning his head around, he could see the corpse of the other Atlas with its head separate from his body, which showed signs of hacking and stabbing all around it.

"Ughhhh." He groaned from the pain as he sat up. His closest teammates backed off to give their commander space to recover.

Waiting for the pain to subside, he took a moment to look around the room to see the bodies of Sukerion and the other Kig-Yar still lying in the same spots from before.

"What are our casualties?" Thel huffed out from his haggard throat.

He could tell that Xat's expression behind his mask was grim. "We lost Rathetus at the beginning of the firefight and Sukerion died from his injuries shortly after. Tav and Sul are injured but they insist they can still fight before getting medical attention."

Whistling could be heard behind Thel as Lighter approached them seemingly with a happy expression.

"You're done?" Xat asked, a chirp was his answer. "Good then, we can leave this place now."

Quickly, the remains of the team left the room before the injured Sangheili Tav tossed his remaining charge in the center and detonated it once they placed themselves a safe distance.

"_This is Xeth calling all teams! Armory has been destroyed but we've suffered several casualties and are falling back. Barkari, prepare yourself the Imperials have figured out where our exit point is."_

Thel placed a finger on his left side of his helmet. _"Barkari, hold the hanger until we arrive and call for the transport along with our reserve team to bring us out."_

"_With pleasure Arbiter. The hanger will be held."_

... ... ...

Guardian Barkari exited the comms while turning to face his team waiting for orders.

"Unggoys, place yourselves in defensible positions towards the doors, the Imperials will try to flush us out." He barked the orders out. "Martenus, contact the transport to evacuate us. The rest, with me!"

Barkari strode to the only doors separating the hanger to the rest of the outpost and stopped. The rest of his pack brothers took places next him while the Unggoys spread themselves behind any craft in the room.

"Make sure the doors never close." He ordered out loud. The Jiralhanae next to him nodded and pressed something on his wrist.

The sound of stomping feet echoed from the hallway to their ears, signaling the arrival of the Imperial security. Barkari growled in preparation of the fight as he reached up behind his back and took out a gravity hammer from its strap. Resting it on both hands, he could feel the hammer power up while the rest of his pack took their respective weapons from their holsters.

At the back of the hallway, he could see well over a dozen Atlases sprinting for the hanger with their weapons drawn. He grinned feral, this would be a great fight for him.

"Open fire on them!" he roared to everyone while pressing a rune on the handle of his hammer to activate the Seeker Node.

A wave of green energy sprouted from the tip of hammer and struck one of the lead machines in the charge. The specific Atlas found itself being suddenly pulled by an unknown force toward Barkari himself. Waiting until the last minute, he turned of the node and swung the hammer in a downward arc, striking the Atlas in the center. The hammer suddenly emitted a devastating gravity wave directly into the body of the machine, crushing it circuits to paste and breaking its form into the floor.

Several Atlases meanwhile were cut down in the barrage but unlike last time, they had improvised since watching what had happened to the ones fighting Thel's group.

One of the Atlases performed a forward roll to doge the fire and brought up an Incinerator Ordinance to eye level and aimed.

Barkari's eyes widened in alarm, "TAKE COV-"

He was unable to finish the sentence, the Atlas immediately fired its weapon. His pack dove to the ground for cover, barely avoiding the blazing ordinance as it exploded into one of the idle craft, destroying it along with most of the Unggoys in his team.

With this distraction, the Atlases rushed into the hanger unhindered and started firing at any surviving targets. Barkari roared in anger as he jumped to his feet and swung his hammer in a wide arc, battering two machines across the room and grabbing the head of another, crushing it with his brute strength. He could feel the urges in his mind to descend into a berserk state and fought back with all his willpower to prevent himself from becoming lost in it.

An explosion erupted next to him and he let loose a gutter roar in pain as he felt searing heat burn his right side. He turned to face the one responsible, he found himself staring at the burned corpse of a pack brother and the sight of the Atlas in question loading a cannon.

Suddenly, blood red began filling his vision and he gave a feral roar that sent shivers across the spines of his pack members. He threw his hammer directly at the Atlas, caving its armor chest inwards from the force of the hit and broke into two. At the edge of his sight, Barkari could see more Atlases entering the hanger, but he didn't care at all. He ripped the holstered spiker from his hip and fired heated spikes widely at the enemy, not caring if most of his shots bounced from their shields or missed altogether.

His spiker continued firing until it clicked, signaling an empty magazine. Snarling in anger, he threw his weapon aside and drew his massive knife from its sheath. With a feral roar, he charged where his hammer lied on the floor and with a single move, picked it off the ground and brought down on an Atlas, crushing it to scrap while lashing out his knife and burying into the chest of another one. His HUD flashed warnings of his shields falling dangerously fast as Atlases focused their fire on him instead of his teammates. He ignored this as he used his body mass to crush an unfortunate Atlas to the wall and swung his knife to cut another one in half.

Suddenly, Barkari felt a bolt of energy strike his left pauldron and throw him off balance. Whipping around to where the shot came from, he felt searing pain in his right leg, causing him to lose support and collapse on the floor. He tried to lift himself up but another bolt struck one of his arms, forcing him to collapse on the floor. Raising his head, he could dimly see an Atlas calmly approach him and point a laser weapon at his face.

Just as the Atlas was about to press the trigger, the large hanger doors explode and a phantom craft entered the room. Immediately, turrets on its hull-opened fire on the Atlases across the room, gunning down multiple of them as the bay doors opened.

Once the doors opened, a large shape jumped from the phantom and crashed on the ground. Rising at full height in the battle stood a 3-meter tall Hive Colossus covered in near-impenetrable chitin armor and wielding two swords grafted in the same material in its arms. The colossus gave a deep-pitch screech and charged into the battle, slashing and hacking apart machines with its blades and immense strength in a frenzy. Dropping behind from the craft came several Hive Guards surrounding a Warper. Not waiting to reach the ground, the Warper proceeded to launch psychic bolts at any exposed Atlases while the Guards tasked to protect it provided support with their bio-weapons for their beleaguered comrades.

... ... ...

Thel and his team ran desperately through the hallways while blindly firing their weapons behind them at the Atlases chasing them. The moment they had left the command center, Imperial forces had been hounding them and no matter how hard they tried to shake them off, the machines persisted in chasing them.

Without warning, a metal bundle flew over their heads unto the wall adjacent to their right. The bundle proceeded to detonate behind them, collapsing the hall and cutting off the Atlases from entry.

Looking at the direction where the bundle came from, he saw Xeth and what remained of his team running from the hallway intersect and join them.

"That will slow them down Arbiter!" Xeth shouted to Thel. "It will buy us more time to get out of here."

"Then lets take full advantage of it. I can hear the fighting in the hanger getting closer!" He announced to everyone.

Finally reaching the doors to the hanger, the teams entered the war-torn hanger now filled with burning hulks of crafts along with corpses of both sides. Thel quickly took notice of the phantom's presence along with the rest of his Ops team providing support and havoc against the enemy.

"EVERYONE RETREAT TO THE CRAFT NOW!" Bellowed Thel.

All the Spec Ops paused to hear their commander's words and began drawing back to the phantom. In the meantime, the phantom hovered close to the floor and activated its gravity lift as one by one, everyone entered the beam until Thel was the last one.

Taking one good look back at the surviving Atlases approaching him, he jumped into the beam and briefly felt weightless as the machine lifted him up into the craft. Immediately his view of the hanger was replaced with the troop compartment now filled with his surviving members of his team.

"All warriors are accounted for, Arbiter!" Xeth informed to Thel.

"Very well. Pilot, get us out of here!"

"Understood Arbiter." Replied the pilot from the cockpit.

The phantom began rising once more into the air and turned to face the opening gap leading outside the hanger. Just before it sped away, a small hatch opens in the bottom and ejects an object on the ground.

With that final act, the phantom speeds with full haste out of the hanger and into the barren outside world once more. Leaving behind a torn hanger and any remaining Imperials defenders angrily firing at the escaping craft.

If any of the Atlases had bothered stopping to inspect the unknown object left behind by the Covenant beforehand, they would've noticed a small panel with a series of symbols rapidly switching at an outstanding rate. If they had continued watching, they would've soon seen the symbols become less numerous until hitting a single one that blinked multiple times before ending with a drawn-out beep sound.

... ... ...

The phantom carrying the surviving members of the Arbiter's group sped away from the outpost and made a sharp pull towards the atmosphere to escape the world.

Immediately behind it, the entire side of the mountain erupted in a massive explosion of plasma as the bomb left behind detonated its payload. To both sides, the explosion effectively destroyed most of the outpost and would be years before the place could ever hope to run once more in the future. However, unknown to both parties, the bomb itself had some unintended consequences in its blast zone. The mountain where the Imperial was located is a dormant volcano that had erupted in millennia since it had used up its magma chambers and could not reach for more below in the core. Thanks to the bomb's force, large cracks had been torn through the crust and opened up new passageways into magma veins dotting the heart of the world. The shockwave of the explosion along with the sudden pressure of the environmental changes produced catastrophic results.

The formally silent volcano along with the surround land close to it exploded outwards in a spectacular show of tremendous force, spewing out countless tons of magma into the surface, effectively destroying any evidence of an outpost existed in this world forever.

**[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]**

_Shadow of Intent _

"Fleetmaster! We have contact with the team!" The bridge officer shouted.

Rtas snapped his head up from the data pad he had been reading from. "Through communications?"

The officer shook his. "No. We have it through visual."

"Show me."

The officer quickly brought Rtas to one of the bridge's control stations. "Bring visual up." The officer ordered to the Unggoy operator.

Nodding, the Unggoy typed in several key commands on the holo-computer until a large screen materialized in the air showing the desolate world before zooming in at a lone phantom exiting the atmosphere and speeding through the orbital plane.

"Hmm. The mission must have been a success. Tell the fleet to prep-"

"Fleetmaster!" A shout came from a Jiralhanae officer in charge of the ship's scanners. "Scanners are picking up a large rise of energy signatures around Planetoid-03 and 04! Sectors 312B-K, 107, and 26F-U are filled with new signals!" Panic could be heard in his voice. "Ghost signals are becoming solid. Imperial IFFs are being detected everywhere!"

Rtas felt his blood turned cold. Hearing what the report said did not bode well for him, let alone the fact that numerous of those defenses were dangerously close to his fleet. The fact that the _amount_ of traps and so forth located in this system was not right. He knew that these types of outposts normally had a significant number of protections, but this one had three times the number compared to others! He knew he had to get the Arbiter out to safety before the traps caught him.

"Bring the fleet online! Spin up the weapon batteries and raise the shields! We need to fight our way through in order to rescue the Arbiter!"

**[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]**

Phantom Dropship 

The phantom sped across the void of space towards the rendezvous location where the fleet would pick them up. At first look, the Covenant craft was the only thing artificial in this section of the system.

However, as the craft sped on it passes through a particular area of space, causing a disturbance of some kind nearly invisible to the naked eye. Suddenly, the space around the same area distorts as what appears to be a large object moving and what suspiciously looks like a series of barrels slowly pointing at the fleeing ship.

The Sangheili piloting the craft occasionally looked at the scanners of the ship for any sign of Imperial pursers. So far, the Imperial response had been surprisingly silent and at this rate, they would reach their destination at the gas giant in less than a cycle. He certainly was quite happy to leave this system, the entire place didn't suite well for him nor feel normal at all.

A blinking red light quickly grabs his attention from the corner of his eye warning him of something in the scanners. He soon notes the presence of a contact behind his ship labeled with the Imperial IFF. Seeing that the Humans have finally gotten their act together, he was just about to contact the Arbiter and give an update until the flashing red light increases in frequency distracts him.

Looking back, his breath halts in his throat as he witnesses the scanners bring up more enemy contacts in the screen, all of them surrounding the ship. Soon, some of the contacts begin slightly glowing from rising energy levels.

Widening his eyes in realization, he violently yanked the controls of the phantom to the side, causing the craft to sharply pull to the left. Immediately the ship is roughly shaken from an outside explosive right where the ship was originally.

"_Pilot, what in the gods was that?!"_ Thel demanded through the comms.

"Imperial IFFs! We're surrounded!" replied the pilot. "Secure yourselves to the seats!"

... ... ...

The phantom banked below to dodge incoming fire from several satellites dotting the space around them. Lasers, missiles, and rail cannons cut through empty space as their target constantly dodged their fire no matter what. The craft returned fire with its own plasma and pulse weapons in an attempt to deter them or hopefully, neutralize them.

In the back of the fight, a small station dropped its cloak and opened up bays making up most of its hull, releasing dozens of drone interceptors in the field.

Organizing themselves, they quickly began giving chase at the phantom, determined to not let it escape from the system alive. All three of the pulse turrets that had been previously focusing on the satellites changed their attention on the chasing interceptors instead.

The pilot quickly found himself desperately dodging heavy fire left and right from the interceptors while using the shields to deflect the lighter ones. Silent explosions rocked the ship as missiles exploded closely but fortunately not too close.

Seeing the approaching mass of the next planet in the system, the pilot pushed the engines to faster speeds as he navigated the phantom towards the world in hopes of losing his pursers there. The interceptors meanwhile saw their enemy's intention and paced up their speeds to catch up.

The chase quickly found itself in the atmosphere of the world burning at dangerous speeds capable of melting their armor if shields were not present.

The pilot switched most of the shield energy of the shields at the front as he stared intently at the approaching surface with a special but hazardous plan. Waiting until the stratosphere burning entry was finished, he steadily kept the speed of the phantom the same while continuously moving it down.

Noting the action of their target, most of the interceptors wisely pulled away from the illogical suicidal run while some of the more daring drones ignored the warnings and continued their chase.

The phantom continued with its path as the pilot carefully watched the readings indicating the distance to the ground left. The readings quickly began blaring warnings once the craft started becoming closer to the surface, which he ignored while focusing on his task.

Watching the ground near at an alarming rate, he waited until there was only a small distance left before pulling hard on the control back. The phantom immediately pulled up at the last moment, its bottom hull scraping a jutting rock formation on the ground and one of its 'tails' snapping off from the impact.

The several interceptors behind him realized too late what he had done and tried to copy his action vainly, but having chased at higher speed coupled with not designed in mind for drastic moves, suffered the price for their mistake. Most rammed right into the ground and exploded fashionably, unable to pull up in time. The rest succeeded in pulling up but could not do so properly, resulting in all of them crashing across natural formations rising from the ground.

The phantom meanwhile continued with its run across the surface, with most of the interceptors who had not been initially destroyed swinging back into the chase after seeing their foolish companions crash. Once again, the phantom found itself once more dodging fire only this time it could protect itself with less opponents.

Skimming across the surface, the phantom sharply dives into a large canyon previously spotted by the pilot. The interceptors quickly split into two groups in response with half flying above the surface in flanking positions while the rest entered the canyon. Seeing that a satisfying number were chasing him, he presses several command keys on the control panel.

A small section of phantom's forward 'head' opens up and launches two objects a good distance ahead in the canyon's walls. Latching themselves to the wall, the objects open their casings to reveal bombs warming up their cores in preparation for the command code.

Soon, the phantom passes the location of the bombs it placed and the pilot waited before pressing a red rune for activation. Receiving their command, the bombs glow in a bluish light and as soon as the interceptors chasing in the canyon neared, the bombs detonate.

Even with the distance, the combined explosive of two high-grade plasma bombs violently shakes the craft and nearly causes the pilot to lose control. However, the explosion also pulverized the interceptors in the canyon and threw off the ones above into confusion and surprise since the shockwave interfered with their circuits.

Using this moment of distraction, the pilot quickly pulls his craft back into the air to escape the world. The phantom manages to make it to the upper atmosphere of the planet until the surviving interceptors realized where their target had run off to and maxed out their afterburners after it.

The phantom screamed through the sky as it blasted free from the gravity well of the planet and entered the empty void of space once more. Not far behind, the interceptors tore through the atmosphere in fury to terminate their target for good and began unloading all their firepower at the craft.

The pilot desperately threw his ship in loops and spins in order to avoid the worst of the attacks. However, he could see in the shield's readings they were falling down at an alarming rate. Before he could ponder a way to save his ship along with the passengers, the craft is shaken once more violently.

Looking at the screens, he could see more satellites than before along with some stations turning their weapons at him while the scanners rang warnings to him of energy built up. Knowing what was going to happen, he sent his craft spinning in a barrel roll, barely avoiding most of the cannon fire directed at him with two shells cutting through his shields easily and damaging the hull of the craft. Next to him, he silently grinned from the amount of cursing emitting from the Spec Ops in the troop compartment through the comms. If it wasn't for the fact that they were in a life or death situation, he would've laughed.

Using the phantom's mobility, he expertly piloted the craft through the brazen defenses of the Imperials and forced his pursuers to break off to avoid friendly fire while making sure the Imperials couldn't fire anything warship-grade weaponry at a such a close range.

Noting something of a battle occurring in the distance, he zoomed the screen in to see the _Shadow of Intent_ leading the _Fleet of Uncovering_ in a maelstrom of fire. Plasma bolts and energy beams could be seen firing everywhere as the fleet fired widely at their foes surrounding them while their shields were lighting up constantly from deflecting countless rounds at once.

His comms began blinking with transmissions, _"Phantom 215/R, can yo*ccrr*ead me? Respond!"_

He pressed a key on the panel. "This is Phantom 215/R, I'm having trouble hearing you through this interference."

"_H*ccrr*ger Bay AR-20 is op*cccrrrr*in quickly!"_

"Clear up! I cannot fully understand the orders."

"_*ccrrr*n't break interference. Bat*ccrr*ield communications are al*ccrr*bad."_

"Understood." He switched off the channels for silence. He pressed several more keys on the dashboard and was rewarded with a higher humming sound of the phantom's engines straining to the breaking point as the output of the energy propellant increased drastically.

He could feel the pressure of the new speed in the engines as the phantom sped faster toward the massive form of the Assault Carrier and aimed for one of the hanger bays still opened to admit the fleeing craft in.

Warnings began flashing red across the screens as the computers informed him of the engines overheating to dangerous levels that could potentially destroy the craft. He swiped the warnings from his presence, knowing that without their current speed, they won't make it to the _Intent_ in time.

With only a short distance between the craft, he was about to inform the Ops in the back to warn them when an explosion racked the ship, nearly throwing him off his seat. Alarms rang through the craft as the screens light up to show the readings of the damage. He could see Engines 2 was lost and 4 leaking. Most of the hull in the back was compromised and destroyed but thankfully, the troop bay was untouched but for how long he didn't know.

He twisted the craft to correctly set it back in course for the hanger, which was now closer than before. "Come on you _wrahta_! Move your twisted hull!" he cursed as he fought the controls. The phantom groaned slightly from the abuse it was suffering from but nonetheless, obliged the pilot's commands.

Seeing now that the ship was aiming straight for the bay, he flicked on the comms once more. "Hold on to something now and brace yourselves. We're coming in fast and uncontrollable with no clear landing spot!" Looking back at the screen he though, _'This is going to hurt'_

"_What!?"_ Exclaimed Barkari's voice through the channel. _"What the Burning Plains do you mea-"_

He was immediately cut off as the phantom finally entered through the magnetic field and crashed into the wall. Because of the speed it was coming in, it didn't stop there. The phantom violently broke off from the crater it left in the wall and spun through the air while continuing its unstoppable path. It proceeded to crash in to the floor and cave a path of destruction as docked fighters and other craft were either crushed or bowled through by the kill-ram transport. Ear splitting sounds of screeching metal tearing apart dominated the room. The hanger's personal meanwhile desperately threw themselves to safety from becoming a blood colored-paste on the floor or crushed powder on the craft's hull as it tumbled past them. The ship continued plowing through the bay as one of the engines exploded, sending the already-damage ship into the hull of a docked Lich Battle-Transport. The phantom caved into the hull of the craft and forced it off its zone before finally coming to a stop. With a final groan, it disengages from the Lich and crashes on the floor.

Hanger personal cautiously pocked their heads out from cover to see the Phantom Transport, once a proud looking ship, now looked as though it took a jolly trip through the Immaterium, used as a play ball by titans, and bashed around with an over-sized hammer for good measure.

**... ... ...**

"The phantom is in the bay Fleetmaster!" Shouted the bridge officer.

"Jump to slipspace NOW!" Bellowed Rtas. "Get us out of here!"

The officer barked his orders out to the crew as they jumped to their tasks.

A large slipspace portal opens as the large body of the Assault Carrier steadily enters the rift along with its escorts following behind and crushing to wraith-size compact objects any unlucky Imperials too close without proper shielding. And as quickly as it appeared, the portal closes behind the retreating Covenant from the system.

* * *

**Slipspace**

It felt bored. Really, really bored. Scratch that, it probably felt more boredom compared to everything else at this moment.

That's what the lone Bloodletter felt as it hurled through the swirling currents of the accursed Slipspace dimension. It could do nothing in this place. Unlike its home realm, this blasted place had Cosmic rules that were incredible difficult to manipulate, let alone break. So in sense, it was stuck here.

It released a frustrated growl at a memory. Curse that damned daemon to the Warp Planes of Fire. It should have never trusted that Blue Horror trickster of Tzeentch when it claimed that the portal led to the mortal realm itself. It should have recognized the bluish color of the portal signaling a slipspace link rather than the traditional swirl of chaotic colors.

Sighing in exasperation, it briefly wondered how long it would stay stuck here before it found a chance to escape. It certainly didn't want to miss the action about to occur in the future. Last it heard, the loyal servant race of the Ruinous Powers were preparing for a large campaign against the rising power of the upstart 'order', the Im-*WHAM*

Its thoughts are immediately cut off as a large object collides with it and continues with its path. Nearly knocking it unconscious.

Opening its eyes, it quickly discovered itself laying face first on a glass panel that soon turned out to be the bridge of a massive ship. Deciding to gently press down on the surface to test it, it senses the presence of a certain shield actively pushing back its ethereal form. Looking through the thick glass protecting the vital part of the ship, the bloodletter could see a figure at the controls close to it and looked like a…HUMAN!

Seeing an opportunity to leave this blasted region, it tried gnawing its way through the shields, despite appearing to spectacularly fail at attempt. The Human at the controls raised an eyebrow at the action of the daemon while keeping his face emotionless. Unnoticed by the busy daemon, the Human silently flicked a switch and pressed an orange button next to it.

Suddenly, a panel in the hull above the glass opened, grabbing the Warp creature's attention to see it release mechanical arm with a…window swipe? The daemon was dumbstruck at this revelation. It barely had time to react once the tool touched the glass and began swiping the window clean, with it included.

The daemon growled and dug its talon into the shields, stubbornly refusing to let a simple machine tool knock it off its only chance to escape. Seeing this wasn't working, the human calmly twisted the button around and pressed it harder. The window swipe immediately started smacking the daemon off the window much more aggressively than before. The irritated daemon shoved and kicked it away, wanting to deny the human the pleasure of getting rid of it.

Seeing it didn't work, the human shuffling slightly to the side, flicking another switch and pressed this time a red button bigger than the last one.

Immediately, the window swipe stopped it aggression and backed off as the daemon howled in victory, thinking it had won the fight. Its mood is quickly interrupted when another panel above opens and releases a mechanical arm with a tri-barrel at the end.

Pointing the end at the daemon, the barrels hum with power as energy builds up at the back of the cannon. The warp being has a short moment to think _'I don't get rewarded enough for this'_ before the cannon blasted it to oblivion.

With the deed done, the cannon retracts back to its place while the window swipe goes back to work at cleaning off the remains of the daemon lingering on the glass. Once completed, the swipe retreats to its place and leaves the window clean with no apparent evidence of a warp creature's presence.

"Hey Hadrian."

Hadrian turned around to see an ensign walk up to him. "Gellar sensors were identifying a warp contact here. You dealt it Hadrian?"

"Yep. No need to worry about anymore, I took care of it."

"Great! I'll go back to my post." Happy with the news, the Ensign walked back to his post while crossing the bridge and a canopy of voices.

"Destination arrival in two hours!" "Engines are in working order!" "Slipspace currents are moving with us! Our arrival time will be cut downed!"

Reaching his station, he sat down to face his cogitator returned to his status as a Gellar operator. "Gellar fields functioning with no hitches!"

"Ensure everything is working smoothly, men!" Magnus's booming voice cut through the air. "We will be arriving directly into a battlefield, so no slackers in this fleet!"

"At once Primarch!" The bridge chorused.

* * *

Covenant of the Mantle Codex:

*Time caste: _the Covenant of the Mantle utilizes an entirely different system of measurement to record time. The system goes as Cycle (hour), Solar Cycle (day), Astro-Cycle (month), and Gala-Cycle (year). For bigger, it goes as Period (#s of decades), Age (#s of centuries), and Eon (#s of millennium). Going smaller, the system differs to planesecs (seconds), and planemins (minutes)._

-Molten bomb: _a plasma bomb that functions as the Covenant's equivalent of a nuclear bomb. These bombs would often times be employed to demolish fortress defenses or downing massive targets._

-Dirus charge: _functioning as a satchel bomb used for taking down blocked rooms or bringing down troublesome vehicles. It is highly favored by the Spec Op branch in their missions._

-Hive Guard: _Yamnee's that stand over twice the height of a drone, they serve as protectors of Hive Royalty or other high-ranking members of their kind with their thick chitin armor and assortment of weapons at their disposal. They can be considered elite soldiers by other races, capable of being on par with other super soldiers._

-Hive Colossal: _a shock trooper and the juggernaut of the Hive armies. At a height of 3-meters on average, they are considered nearly on par with the Lekgolo's own shock troopers. They often times favor close combat than ranged, allowing them to use their powerful strength to crush opponents and wield devastating melee weapons._

-Hive Warper: _Standing smaller than a Hive Guard, Warpers to not fight at all in hand-to-hand combat and as such have the appearance of a weak form compared to their brethren. They have a poor eyesight but make it up tenfold with five extra antennas on their head along with their psychic touch. Warpers are considered one of the deadliest type of psychic beings the Covenant of the Mantle can field in the battle, each one can link itself with the minds of their respective Hive over vast distances, allowing them to draw _vast_ amount of power if needed. How it is done is unknown._

* * *

**And there's for this chapter.**

**Like and Favorite guys**

**Don't forget to review (any will be sufficient, as long as its not a flamer [that I don't tolerate])**

**The Covenant seem to be moving one step ahead of the Imperium of solving the mystery. Did Thel and his team survive? What exactly was the Daemon thinking beforehand?**

**Find out next on Galaxia's Wars!**

**Numquam est obliviscendum rimam, ut aliquid occultans.**


	11. Chapter XI

***An empty room with the door in the back fills your boring view until the sound of stomping is heard in the background. Suddenly, the right side of the room explodes in shower of splints and cement, revealing a large cannon poking through the former wall.***

***A young man casually walks down the cannon hand hops off. He turns back to face owner of the weapon and waves.***

**Thanks for the ride buddy! I'll catch up later! *A series of electronic speeches answers back before the cannon pulls back with some ruble***

***Car sirens and the sounds of earth-shacking stomping fills the background as the man watches whatever-the-heck-you-can't-see leave while shacking his head***

**Great. Insurance is going to be a killer...*He suddenly seems to remember something and rushes to the desk with the desktop***

**HEELLOOOO PEOPLE**

**Sorry for the long delay. I had school taking up most of my free time and went through slight writer's block a few times that delayed me but now I have it done! So lets get to answering reviews.**

**Bartogromeo: The other factions in Warhammer will pretty much have the same current situation unless they take a big role. They are female spartans, its just that they're rare and only a few legions can actually have them compare to others.**

**_SPARTAN-626_: That's indeed funny! I will write more humor like that in the future.**

_**mr I hate znt nobles kill em**_**: **

**1) Equality/some gene-seeds can work with females (though not all) **

**2) Yes they do (especially the orks)**

**3) Yep, usually its either an extremely rare daemon world or freakish, random rifts or possessions**

**4) Yes they do (with the last two having the least of the worry)**

**5) It depends on what Craftworld we're talking about (majors ones like Ulthwe and Biel-tan because of their attitude and policy)**

**6) Again, depends on the craftworld and which sub-type we're talking about**

**7) Definitely, it would take centuries for the bad blood to go away to ever work together in an alliance (unlike most fictions where both sides suddenly becomes best friends in an incredibly short amount of time)**

**8) You'll see soon. _Very_ soon**

**9) They'll be the same thing like when they were unchanged**

**Just like in chapter 9, there will be another trailer in the end for another enemy. (A/N: the trailers do not signify chronological order: they will soon come when the plot demands it)**

**The Codex for Ancient Humanity will soon be uploaded. Just need to make a few improvements. **

**Again, I do not own anything that belongs to the orders except for own creations. And I'm not responsible for any head explosions from sheer awesomeness or mysterious whispers in your mind or fungi growing in your food or suddenly having the urge to start smashing stuff.**

**Now...On to the story**

* * *

**Battle of Curwen**

_Orks are by far one of the stupidest living beings in the Cosmos yet can accomplish things that would leave every other race jealous. _

_Able to raise a battle-ready army in a matter of weeks and build powerful weapons from nothing but scrap in a junkyard._

_Having a philosophy in their society that is barbaric to many but perfect for them._

_Knowing that no matter how many times you crush them, they'll keep coming back till you wear out and collapse while they keep on going regardless for another round. _

_Orks can never be defeated no matter how hard we do it. They can only be slowed down or halted but not stopped._

_-Lord Marshal Tetanus _

* * *

**Segmentum Ultima**

**Regional Castus **

**Sector Cronus **

**Sub-Sector Alidear **

**Nova Prime System**

**Agri-World Curwen**

**3.532.M36 (5 days)**

Slowly over the horizon, the Nova Prime sun rose into the sky, bathing the entire land in a blanket of light. Flowers bloomed as the light touched them and wild life stirred as the morning rays raised them from their slumber. The beauty of the land would've been an inspiration for poetry; alas the peace would be interrupted.

Blundering through the land and spewing an ungodly amount of smock in the air, an entire convoy of Ork trukks raced by towards the distance. Each trukk looked as though it had been coupled together from scrap and barely appeared to be holding tightly even with the sheer will of the ork themselves. Adding with the sight was the fact each of those vehicles was covered in as much weapons the orks could possible arm on it along with multiple orks riding each one and armed to teeth with an equal amount of firepower.

"Oi! Boss wantz tu know 'ow much lungar til 'e git dere." A shoota boy yelled at the trukkboy driving the largest and leading wartrukk.

"I dunno wen! We git dere wen we git dere!" the trukkboy yelled back.

"Uh…'ow lung will dat take?"

"Dont 'now, sey aroun' tin minits."

"Oka!" The ork responded before scrambling out of the crammed space.

"Dank Mork hes gon'." The trukkboy muttered. "He wuz getin anoyin'."

**… … …**

The shoota boy pulled himself from the drivers room and into the hold crammed with multiple orks while joining next an overly large Nob garbed in mega armor and fiddling with his personal heavy slugga gun. He turned to see the smaller ork move next to him.

"What did 'e sey?"

"I dunno, forgot evrythin' he jus' sed. Somthin' dat we git ther' en tin min…uh…monat…we git dere soon!"

"Ah." The Nob said to himself. Silence occupied the truck with the exception of the loud sound of the vehicle and the rest of the convoy.

"Dis is borin'!" Another Nob declared from the back of the group. "Why wer' evin 'ere boss?"

"Thats cuz Warboss Bonestomper wants oz tu do reconi…err…watch dem humies. An tu make lotz of big noize and sploisonz wit dem." The Mega Nob answered back to him.

"But I want tu se' sum fihtin'." Complained another slugga boy.

As thought fate heard his plea, one of the trukks was immediately struck by something and exploded. Debris and burning bodies were thrown everywhere in the air.

"HAAHAR HAR HAR! Dit youz see dat? It wen' BOOM!" laughed a Madboy in delight.

Quickly, another trukk exploded followed by another one collapsing into a pile of scrap, causing all of its passengers to tumble into the ground.

"Dis is fun. I wanna see mor' of dis." Exclaimed an excited shoota boy.

In an oblivious moment, the trukks were destroyed one by one from the outermost ones to the nearest of the wartrukk. All while the ones in the bigger trukk laughed their heads off from the amusement they were seeing while not noticing how the destruction was progressing closer to them. By then, there were only three trukks left of the original 20-strong convoy.

"Noooo!" wailed a random ork. "Dont tell me it jus' finishd now."

His prayers were quickly answered as a shot is heard in the air and the driver spot of the right trukk exploded, causing it to rear towards the left and slam into the second one, destroying both vehicles. The entire wartrukk shook from the laughter emitting from the orks riding it as they watched the last trukks become wreck.

The laughter began to die down as the surviving orks soon realized a simple problem.

"Errr…wut happin' tu evryone else?" A slugga boy asked out loud.

"Didnt dey esploided-"

The ork in question is immediately cut off as the wartrukk explodes after being struck by something and kills the rest of the orks.

**[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]**

Somewhere in the land

In the distance, a human sniper slaps in a fresh clip of explosive rounds into his Exitus Rifle as he scanned the field with his Predator Mask for any more ork vehicles he may have missed. Seeing the scans bringing in nothing, he felt satisfied that he had gotten all of them, he linked himself to a secure vox-link.

"_Report." _Came a distorted voice.

"Ork convoy has been eliminated." He reported. "You're clear to move forward."

"_Understood. Stand by for further orders."_

Disconnecting from the link, he rose from his prone position, letting the sunlight glinting off his Carapace Armor and synskin covering his body. He headed for a cluster of boulders while mag-locking his sniper rifle to his back. Reaching the boulders, he took a small device from his belt and pressed a button. Beeping in activation, one of the rocks began fizzling and disappeared, revealing instead a hologram hiding a jet bike from any wandering eyes.

Dragging the machine from its place and hoisting himself to the seat, he patiently waited for his orders to come.

Listening to the winds blowing across for any new developments, his augmented ears picked up a rumbling noise in the distance steadily growing. Turning his head towards the direction it was coming from, he could decipher from the noise that more than one machine was doing this and were going to pass his location. He simply only needed to wait for them to appear in his field of vision.

His patience is soon rewarded with the sight of Imperial aircraft roaring above him as they went forth to begin Operation: Thunderlord. He could see Thunderhawks bearing the sigil of the Dark Angels accompanied with Pelicans, Sparrowhawks, and Valkyries of the Imperial Army forming the bulk of the force. Below in the fields, packs of Land Warthogs rumbled through with Russ Transports following behind and Viper tanks acting as support. He watched them all pass him as they continued with their destination while he continued waiting.

A series of communication alerts popped in his HUD to signify a new package as his machine spirit shuffled through the complex codes to display the info to him. Silently scrolling through the message detailing new commands for him, he smiled at his new mission.

Activating his jet bike, the engines hummed in power as the gravity generators began generating an electromagnetic field, lifting the bike into the air from the ground.

Placing his feet on the pedals and gripping the handles with his hands, he alienated his bike towards the large force and pressed his feet down, launching his bike at blistering speeds. He had a mission to comply and execute with utmost precision.

After all, you don't get any simple Vindicare Assassin to watch the back of a Primarch, much less the one of the First Legion.

**… … …**

"This is Legion Master Azrael to all units, target in six minutes," spoke Azrael through all vox-links in the attack force. He could see the approaching structures of their ancestors from the cockpit of the leading Thunderhawk. His HUD soon blinks a signal reporting a secure vox-link connecting to his.

"_Legion Master, this is Master of the Scouts Nathaniel. Be warned, the orks have a large presence in the designated structure. I have a suspicion that the Warboss himself may be there."_

"Excellent work, Nathaniel!" Exclaimed Azrael. "We may be able to overcome our two objectives in one strike. Continue monitoring the area and keep me updated."

"_Understood Legion Master."_ Nathaniel responded before cutting off the link.

Azrael exited the cockpit and entered the compartment filled with Astartes. "Primarch, Master of the Scouts has reported that the Ork Warboss Bonestomper may very well be where we are heading for."

El' Jonson smiled at the news. "That is indeed good news." He stood up from his seat and set his vox to a wide broadcast channel. "Sworn brothers of the Dark Angels and men of Jericho. We will be fighting our sworn enemy of the accursed orks. We have vital intel that their Warboss responsible of this may be where we are heading." He paused to let the message sink into the minds of everyone present before continuing.

"This will mean we will striking at the orks where their strongest is located. But that does not mean we will shed away from this attack. No! We will meet this threat head-on and batter it away. We will not cower under the presence of a larger enemy. We will instead face their gaze with our own and bring our terrible wrath upon their heads. We will cleanse this world of their filth and remind them that it's us, not them who are greater. That we Humans can overcome any challenge no matter how demanding or dangerous it is. That we can challenge, adapt, and triumph in success or die trying to accomplish it!" Shouts of agreement could be heard through the vox.

"Men of the Imperium, bear with me as we strike at the heart of the ork invasion and destroy them for good. We fight and die for Humanity!"

The response to his speech quickly became overwhelming as Astartes in the compartment raised their fists in the air and bellowed war cries that were mimicked by the rest of the assault force.

"Thirty seconds to target!" Yelled the pilot from the cockpit.

"Signal the force to begin bombardment of the area!" Azrael ordered to him.

"At once milord!"

In unison, all the craft in the air fired a wave of missiles while the Viper tanks below raised their turrets and poured heavy fire at the area. A kilometer from their positions, mobs of orks were milling around the structure impatiently until they heard rumbling sound accompanied with the roaring noise of something burning. Looking up in the direction where it was coming from, the orks had a brief moment to see a wave of destruction heading for them until the distance turned zero.

Explosions ripped across the ork battlements as the Imperial bombardment struck them directly, sending dismembered bodies and machine pieces everywhere. The ordinance wave is quickly followed up with lasers, plasma, and bolters hitting any intact ork positions that had survived the first wave. In response to the damages it received and the probability of more, the First Ascension structure activated its fail-safes, instantly erected a powerful shield for protection and resulting in any stray fire to disintegrate upon contact with the energy.

The Imperials were however not deterred with this and continued firing until they reached the area. The Valkyries leading the charge slowed down once reaching the ork lines and released their cargo hanging next to their compartments. Mechsuits soon come flying out of their holdings and connect their feet to the ground. Using the momentum of the transporters and their own speed from exiting, the machines charge straight in the orks with the lead one raising a large power claw and with a single swipe easily slices through the barricades along with any orks too close. The rest of the Mechsuits carve through the lines and are quickly joined by the vehicles plowing their own destruction and transports swooping in from above and raining death.

In an orderly fashion worthy of the Ultraspartans and several Imperial forces, all the transports unloaded the assets of the assault as men of the Legion and Army rushed from their transports and battled the remaining orks outside the ancient compound.

Orks and Humans clashed together in a fury of flashing blades and storms of projectiles, as they showed no mercy to each other. At the same time, Dreadnoughts and Mechsuits rushed in the fight and ripped apart any Deff Dreads and Mega Dreads that were still standing. Vipers and Land Warthogs meanwhile raced across the battlefield trading fire against Big Trakks and Gunwagons, all blasting each other to kingdom come.

While the Imperials had greatly taken the orks by surprised and were currently overwhelming them, the orks themselves were no pushovers whatsoever. More than one Human fell dead to the ground once his/her shield and armor broke under the constant rate of fire and their body's systems overwhelmed with fatal injuries that could not be stopped. A Mechsuit or Dreadnought collapsing from severe damage, unable to continue fighting in their present state or their pilot dead. A ground vehicle crashing after being subjected through destruction beyond operational status or an aircraft careening into the ground once ork rokkits struck luckily once their shields was taken down.

Despite these losses, the Imperials continued pushing the orks back with Primarch Lion El' Jonson leading the assault at the front with his personal Darkwing Guards and member of the Deathwing and Ravenwing. Swinging blow after blow at the orks, he cut a path of death that quickly began causing the ork horde to spiral into chaos and start infighting across their ranks. Taking full advantage of the opportunity these orks were giving them, they redoubled their attacks in cleansing their presence of the temple's ground until the last ork standing found himself short of a brain, courtesy of an energy bolt.

"Spread out and secure the area! I want defenses set up ASAP and done by sundown." Shouted a Major to his Jericho Regiment as he bellowed orders. "Those orks aren't going to sit around and wait for you to finish to attack." Men complied as they began digging trenches and setting up portable barricades from the transports around the ancient structure.

Jonson meanwhile walked curiously at the unknown shield protecting the installation as he inspected it for any weaknesses.

"Be very careful milord." Cautioned Luther as he joined Jonson with several other Darkwing members with their Primarch. "You saw what it did to many of the stray shots and the few unlucky orks who touched it."

"I know what I am doing Luther." He replied without taking his eyes off the shield. "My brother Magnus hinted of something in his message with one of his annoying riddles about a certain shield." He carefully brought his left hand out and slowly approached the shield before his fingers brushed against the surface.

Suddenly, a pulse emitted throughout the shield from where Jonson touched and before he could properly react, it began dissolving apart until it ceased to exist.

In an unspoken sign, one of the Darkwing guards stepped forward and cautiously approached where the shield was originally standing. Slowly, he poked the empty air with his plasrifle for any sign that its presence was still here. After a few more prodding, he became certain it was truly gone. "Shield barrier is indeed gone, milord. We can pass."

Nodding in acknowledgment, Luther turned to the rest of the Darkwing Guard and several Deathwing squads. "Everyone, move in!" he ordered. "The rest of you, keep our backs protected."

The assembled team moved towards a set of large doors serving as the entrance to the installation. The doors stood over four meters high and if appearances could tell, looked as though its was thick enough to take a full melta-bomb blast without any serious damages. As they neared the entrance, the doors began slowly opening to the sides while sections of it broke apart into light and disappeared, leaving a gaping hole for the Astartes.

Entering through, the group was immediately greeted with a poorly lit hallway covered in layers of dust and absolute silence, which was constantly interrupted, with the whirring of their servos.

Jonson step forward, his sharp eyes cutting through their surroundings for any surprises hidden amongst the walls. Silently, he raised is hand and gave several hidden signals with it. Understanding his message, the Spartans set their weapon's mode to silence and carefully trudged behind him as they strode deeper into the facility. Keeping ever watch on their sensors and sight for ambushes.

**[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]**

Infinite-Battleship _Pillar of Light_

"FIRE FULL BROADSIDE MACROCANNONS!"

Star Admiral Julius de Donavich heard Captain Kiosk bellow orders out from his command chair of the Infinite-Battleship _Pillar of Light_. The ship quickly rumbled in action as macrocannons fired their massive shells at ork ships, causing multiple Kill Kroozers to disappear from the hololith table he was using to command the battle through the neural-link.

"_Rear Admiral Christopher, have your squadron flank from below on those ork ships! They're over pressuring Winston and his battlefleet!" _He redirected the hololith and zoomed in on certain parts of the battlefield. _"Battlefleet Zeus, reinforce the defenses close to the moon Vela. They need more ships._

"_Carriers of Group B and C, redirect your fighters to our north polar lines! The ork fighters there are too much. Wolf Packs Bravo, Gamma, and Centaur, intercept those kroozers and their escorts before they cross the 1,200-kilometer limit, they're getting too close!" _He quickly zoomed out from the battlefield to give himself a wide view of the planet and its orbit. He could see everything happening on the 3-D map projecting on the table.

Around the flagship of the XXIX Cluster Fleet, the rest of the Imperial forces spread out across roughly one-third of the planets surface with 67% of the planet still under their control.

The entire space was a battleground with both sides firing shells and missiles at each other at a rate that even fighters would be hard-pressed to cross through.

"The Disintre-Beam is fully charged!" Announced a weapons ensign. " The Space Hulk as still keeping its distance of 31,000 kilometers away.

"FIRE!" Roared Kiosk.

At the front bow of the ship, blue energy began building up at tremendous levels in a large twin-barreled cannon as it aimed and fired.

A massive beam of energy instantly cut through the void as it slammed into an ork battleship, completely disintegrating it from existence and proceeded to erase multiple other ork ships before spearing the Space Hulk identified as _Grave of the Stars_ once more. The massive 260-kilometer hulk nearly buckled under the strain before the beam finished, leaving another 6-kilometer hole through its mangled hull.

"_Now is our chance. Launch the Caestus Rams!"_ Order Julius. Seconds after his command is uttered. Hundreds of boarding crafts are launched from both Imperial Naval and Spartan Astartes ships nearest to the behemoth.

Just as the rams reach the _Grave of the Stars_, Magna-Meltas on their prows are activated and sear through the hull, allowing the Caestus Rams to easily break through and unleash the boarders into the vessel.

"Star Admiral! We have new contacts coming in 91,400 kilometers to our left, next to the Iridous moon. IFFs are showing…Sir, the lead ship is hailing as the Gloriana-class flagship _Photep_ of the XV Legion! The XCVIII Battlefleet is also accompanying them along with the forces of two chapters of the First Legion!"

Julius turned to face the ensign who spoke, "give me a secure link to the _Photep_."

The man saluted and went back to his controls before pausing at a new contact. "Sir…another ship is hailing us. Our scanners are designating it with the Sigil of the Agente." A brief moment of silence fills the bridge.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Get me a link to both ships if they're hailing us!" demanded Julius.

He impatiently waited for them to commence the link until two holoscreens materialized above the hololith table, one showing a figure he was well aware of and the other not so much.

"Primarch Magnus the Red." Julius spoke as he bowed his head in recognition, "It is an honor to fight alongside with you. And whom might you be?" He asked to the other screen.

"I am Agente Ravenor of Sectium Xenos. I'm here to retrieve of something of great importance located in these coordinates I'm transmitting to you."

A small screen pops up next to Julius as he opens the file and inspects the contents contained in it. Seconds pass before he sets it aside and looks back at the screens. "The coordinates you have sent me is fortunately under our control and is currently being investigated by Primarch Lion El' Jonson with several of his handpicked Spartans."

"Then I will join him." Ravenor informed to Julius. "In the meantime, I will have the ships in my retinue assist your fleet in routing the orks from this world while my own ground forces assist with the protection of the installation."

"I can have my own ships provide full support with this conflict." Offered Magnus. "In the meantime, the rest of the rest accompanying us are now under your command."

"Thank you very much. If you can excuse me, I have a battle to win. Ave Imperator," finished Julius before swiping both screens away and returned his focus to the hololith portraying the field.

**… … …**

"Have all Legion ships make full speed for the coordinates marked in the navi-cogitators." Said Magnus as several Praestes relaying his orders to the designated ships in the group while the Agente's retinue made a full speed for the selected region on the world.

"My Primarch, we won't be able to safely pass through." Warned a Praestes ensign from his station. "There's simply too many orks between us and the target. They'll tear us apart!" The ensign was too caught up with his worry to notice the glares shot at him from the crew because of his words even though he was quite new in the ship.

"They won't be a problem for us much longer," responded Magnus as he strode forward to the windows of the bridge and lifted his right arm forward with his hand spread out. Closing his eye, he let his mind wander through the warp briefly.

Without warning, his crunched up his face and gripped his hand into a fist. Suddenly, countless ork ships blocking their pathway are crushed beyond recognition into scraps no larger than a tank.

"Pathway is now clear. Proceed with maximum power to the engines and power up weapons."

**… … …**

"Have all ships positioned above the coordinates and prep the men for deployment," ordered Jonathan to his crew while interacting with the rest of retinue's captains. He was intensely focused on the task he almost didn't notice Ravenor walk up next to him.

Clamping a hand on his shoulder, Ravenor spoke up in a loud voice, "Captain."

He could feel Jonathan's body tense in surprise before quickly disappearing and turning to face the Agente. "Anything you need Ravenor?" He inquired.

"Yes, I'll be heading down to the surface and because of that, I need you to take command of the retinue while I'm absent."

Jonathan though for a moment before nodding his head, "consider it done. I'll watch it in your stead."

"Thank you, I know that I can count on you to take care of things." Ravenor replied with a smile. "I'll take my leave to the shuttles now." Letting go of his old friend's shoulder, he passed through the bridge and exited through the double doors as they hissed and opened automatically to his presence.

Entering the main body of the _End of Time_, he took several corridors and an elevator before presented with the sight of the small hanger of the prowler. The hanger stretched in the ship for only around 200 meters and 80 wide. Unlike most hangers, prowlers didn't have much of a floor seeing as it was instead replaced with a large gate. This distinct feature meant that all the craft had to be mag-locked to the ceiling and accessible through catwalks instead of the traditional hanger style. He didn't know whose bright idea was to have this design in the blueprints, but that person ought to be fired for this.

Walking through the web of catwalks to reach the Pelican being prepared for his mission, he found it in the end of the hallway ready and its doors opened for boarding. Sitting or milling around at its footsteps was Ravenor's Deathwatch Kill-Team Noble armed and ready for battle. Standing at everlasting attention for his arrival was Brother-Captain Carter of the Crescent Warriors Chapter, Legion XVI. The Spartan had taken his Godwyn-pattern boltrifle and mag-locked it to his right leg mirrored with a boltpistol on his left. Magazines and a power knife could be seen handing from his belt along with a power sword attached to his back. His power was decorated with symbols detailing his accomplishments in his career and designed for all modes in combat.

Next to him was Techmarine Catherine or Cat as she is often called of the Sisters of Battle Chapter, Legion III. She had only armed herself with two laspistols and wore a form-fitting armor that showed off her curves but the rest of here teammates knew she wasn't defenseless. Connected to her back was a mechanical backpack hosting six servo-arms each equipped with a plasma cutter, power drill, mono-saw, modified laspistol, servo-claw, repair-kit, and countless other tools in the metal pack. A Forge Hammer marking her membership to the Mechanicus hung next to her servo pack. As far as everyone knew, she was never 'helpless'.

Milling around next to the craft was Vanguard-Veteran Emile of Ravager Chapter, Legion XII as he impatiently waited for the battle and the Agente's arrival. A sawed-off shatter shotgun could be seen mag-locked to his leg along with numerous shells and grenades hanging from his belt and chest. From his back, a Gorgon launcher could be seen along with his Legion's signature weapon, a fearsome chainaxe. A rather nasty looking kukri knife hung from his right shoulder guard ready to be drawn out in an instant.

Sitting on top of several crates was Scout-Sergeant June of Raven Guard Chapter, Legion XIX inspecting and cleaning his Cyber S-R. Unlike the rest of his Spartan peers, he wore a lighter version of the Mjolnir armor designed specifically for scouting and lighter-duty missions. A bolt pistol could be seen lying next to him with multiple magazines spread out of both weapons. Hanging from his belt were two power knifes designed to slide through the thinnest slits of armor with ease.

Leaning on the panel door was Sternguard-Veteran Jorge of Aurora Chapter, Legion XIII. The large Spartan had his custom Heavy Bolter lying next to him while the ammo backpack with the ammo-feeder hanging off unconnected. Similar to June, he was the only one in the team who wore his Centurion armor and was by far the strongest of them all. A Thunder Hammer could be seen hanging from his belt along with a Stern-pattern boltrifle.

Lastly, meditating next to a crate was Librarian-Warrior Six of Persecutors of Darkness Chapter, Legion I. His armor was decorated with symbols and runes of both protection against the Warp and strength for his psychic powers while he wore a tabard of his chapter and Librarian order over it with the psychic hood. Lying on his crossed legs was his staff, covered in more runes with a small golden eagle perched on the tip. His only visible weapon was a Neutrino-pattern plasrifle mag-locked to his back.

His vibrated footsteps on the catwalk was heard by the Astartes and quickly stopped what they were doing beforehand and stood at attention. "Noble Kill-Team reporting armed and ready for action sir." Announced Carter to Ravenor.

"At ease men." He replied. "You all know the objective of this mission?" A round of affirmatives were given. "Good then, we'll be heading out toward the installation with Primarch Magnus and his selected men." He spoke while entering the Pelican with the Spartans.

"What is our intelligence saying?" Inquired Carter.

"It is suspected that the Warboss himself may be in the structure along with any of his own personal elites. I also have my suspicions that we may come in conflict with any defenses still online after ages of inactivity. Furtherm-" His conversation is interrupted by a fuming enginseer leaving the cockpit and confronting him.

"Agente Ravenor, whatever your pilot does when he is flying, he needs to stop." Steam could be seen coming out of his bionic eye. "The machine spirit of the Pelican refuses to cooperate so long as he's at the controls!"

A harsh series of electronic noises emits from the speakers in response. "Don't you start with me DT-C14493! You will do it whether you like it or not." He snapped back. The machine replied in the harsh binary language.

"If you want to blame someone, take it to the pilot, not me!"

"I oppose that enginseer!" A voiced yelled back from the cockpit. "Its not my fault the shuttle can't handle my style."

"Style?! STYLE?!" The enginseer exclaimed in disbelief and turned to face the voice. "The last time you flew a craft in a mission and came back damaged, the machine spirit practically _begged_ me to put it out of its misery! It refused to tell me what you had put the poor thing through! It was difficult enough to secure a craft for the Agente when all the others refused to be anywhere near you."

"Is it really that bad enginseer?" questioned Ravenor. He winced a bit when the enginseer turned back at him, looking ready to explode.

"Besides the ships wanting to stay away from him, the _End of Time_ had made repeated demands to your captain about having this pilot thrown into the nearest airlock before he can further traumatize its 'children'."

Ravenor sighed, "I'll see what I can do with him. Anyway, is the Pelican ready?"

"Yes, I've made last adjustments and checks to its system. It's ready. I'll take my leave now." With a final glare to the cockpit, he walked out of the Pelican.

Shaking his head, Ravenor led the Deathwatch team inside the ship and took their seats. Clasping his hands together, he closed his eyes while melding into the neural-link system. _"Captain Jonathan, are we clear to leave?"_

Seconds passed by before a response came. _"We're now in orbit, launching drop pods and transports. Hanger doors are now opening." _

Ringing began emitting across the hanger bay, signaling all personal the opening of the large void door. The groaning of metal echoed across the area as the massive door below steadily parted open to the empty void of space separated only by a Void Shield.

"Fasten in everyone!" The pilot shouted from the controls. "We're disengaging from the locks in five…four…three…two…one…launching!"

The mag-locks holding the Pelican deactivate, releasing the craft from its hold as it weightlessly dropped into space. Once it cleared from the mother ship, its propulsion engines immediately kick in, rocketing the craft along with multiple others from nearby ships through space and into the atmosphere of the Agri-world Curwen. Other ships meanwhile positioned themselves directly above the planet's skies and opened up panels in their hulls, revealing tubes. Suddenly, dozens of drop pods are launched from the tubes and head for the designated drop site within their cogitators as their thrusters guided them through the atmosphere.

Meanwhile, in the hanger half-a-dozen men garbed in black armor and tabards silently watched the empty void from a catwalk. Looking at each other, messages were shared quickly and a consensus made. Suddenly without warning, they began running cross the hanger: jumping over crates, whipping past startled personal, and using any foothold for movement.

Just when it appeared they'd reach the end of the bay, they jumped off the catwalks and into the void, much to the shock of any present crewmen. Rushing over to see of their fate, the personal witnessed the men free-falling towards the void and just as their bodies exited the protection of the shield, their bodies morphed into wisps of shadows and disappeared without trace. In the distance, the massive form of the Space Hulk _Grave of the Stars_ drifting in space under the constant barrage of the Imperial Navy.

**[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]**

Deep in the First Ascension installation

The Primarch and his selected Spartans silently crept through the desolate corridor lowly lit with barely functioning lights. Their heavy steps muffled by several pyskers in their group to prevent any enemies already inside from overhearing them.

The group turned around a corner of their path before Jonson silently raised a closed fist with his left hand. Immediately, the group paused in their movement and waited for more directions. Ahead of them, a section of the hallway was pocketed with scorch marks and several ork corpses covering the floor. Without a word, Jonson brought two fingers up from his fist and lowered them towards the bodies.

The closest two Darkwing Guards understood the meaning of the hand signal and slowly approached the area while the rest spread out in the large corridor and kept careful watch on the bodies while their brothers neared.

The two Spartans halted before one of the corpses and stared intently at the body with their visual scanners, making sure that the ork was indeed dead and not faking it. Agonizing seconds passed before one of the two lowered next to the body and laid a hand on it to inspect its age while his companion took in the details of what caused the ork and its companion's death. He paid extra attention some of the injuries displayed showing signs of internal explosions of small magnitude and what appeared to ones showing signs of being sliced with something incredible sharp.

Looking at his partner and giving a silent signal, the second one rose up from his kneeling position and turned back to his Primarch. Carefully, he raised his hand to his face brought up three fingers lined up to his forehead and slowly interlocked them. The sign was very clear: communicate with telepathy only.

_~Report Brother Michael, what have you discovered so far~_ asked Jonson through everyone's mind.

The identified Spartan Michael gathered his thoughts for a good explanation. _~My Primarch, I am unsure what we have found but these orks show sign of injuries sustained from Imperium-grade weaponry~_

_~What? How is this possible ~_Legion Master Azrael spoke out. _~There were no reports of Imperial units near this area or any indication of a Special Forces unit targeting this relic structure~_

_~That's not all Legion Master~_ Interrupted Michael. _~The injuries were made by Astarte-grade weaponry. We're not the only Spartans in here~_

Silence dominated everyone's head as they processed this piece of information and reacted accordingly…

_~How can this be-Impossible-What Legion could be responsible for this-Probably the Night Hunters, this looks like their dirty work-There are none of them close by to this system-Now that's a stupid question-Shut up, Sephelium-Knock it off you two-It must be those damn Alpha Knights-Really? What gave it away-Quite bickering, this is seriousNow that's farfetchedTry and checkMy PrimarchWe need toWill you twoThestoplistenEnoughthat'swhyyouShutup~ _

_**~SIIIILLLEEENNCE~**_

All Spartans stopped their mental argument battle as the psychic shout scrambled everyone's mind and turned to face the Jonson who carried an unimpressed look behind his helmet. _~Really? Of all times you could have chosen to have one of your arguments in a battlefield, this one had to be chosen~ _

Many of the Spartans suddenly found parts of the scenery vastly interesting while the rest lowered their heads in embarrassment.

Jonson groaned irritably in the mental link, causing many of the Spartans to wince from the feeling.

_~So it appears we may have unknown Astartes of one of the twenty Legions ahead of us without our knowledge, am I correct~_

_~Yes Primarch, that would be correct~_ responded Michael.

Jonson grunted in annoyance at the possibility of Spartans here without his knowledge. _~It won't matter now; we still have a mission to complete. We can't let ourselves be distracted~_ Before he could say more, he felt a familiar psychic presence in the distance and broke out a small smile. _~It appears my brother Magnus has arrived along with reinforcements~_

_~Do we still continue with our objective~_ questioned Luther.

_~Yes we do~_ Ending the link with the group, Jonson raised an arm to his side and slowly directed it forward. Acknowledging the command, everyone carefully navigated over the corpses and moved back into the previous formation. Silence still filled the halls as the group continued with their path and soon began noticing the corridors start widening and branching off into multiple directions. Reaching the end of the corridor splitting off into three directions, the group halted at the signal of Jonson.

Slowly, he brought two fingers together and tapped his left ear twice with them. The Spartans paused in their breaths and strained their augmented ears to listen what their Primarch heard. At first, they didn't hear anything but by continuing to stay patient, they began picking the sounds of faint explosions and discharging of weapons from the right hallway. The same thought registered in everyone's minds: there's a fight close by.

Raising a flat hand in the air, Jonson twisted it and curled into a fist. Muffled clicks echoed the hallway as Spartans switched their weapon safeties off. They began moving at a faster pace as they neared the sounds of fighting while the corridor grew larger the deeper they went.

Reaching the end of the hallway, they stopped upon seeing a melted slab of metal where a thick-armored door once stood previously. Everyone recognized the handiwork of a small metal-bomb charge. From the other side of destroyed door, the sounds of fighting coupled with high-pitch screeching could be clearly heard in the background.

Carefully moving through the former doorway, the entire group entered a large chamber. Looking down, they could see a bottomless chasm filled with pitch-black darkness below. Everywhere they looked, floating platforms could be seen constantly forming new mobile floors and tearing apart old ones while the pillars stood idle and operated as anchors to keep everything together. In the distance they could see orks running around shouting at the top of their lungs and firing their abnormally loud weapons. One distinction feature noted about these orks was the fact they were much larger than the ones outside the installation and appeared to be better armed and equipped, making it clear to any eyes that they weren't simple Nobz; these were the typical Ork Bodyguards of a WAAGH Warboss. Another startling sight was the fact that the orks were fighting Spartans that were recognized to belong to Legion III, Humanity's Children.

"Breaking silence!" Announced Jonson as he raised his plascannon and fired off a large plasma bolt, completely burning out the torso of a nearby ork. "Eliminate all orks in this room!"

"Your heard him. Open fire!" Shouted Azrael while activating his power sword, causing several blades to slide out from the hilt and meld together into a sword soon wrapped in wavering energy. "Spread yourselves out and assist our sisters."

The rest acknowledged their orders and began firing at the orks. Cries of surprise and later excitement emitted from the orks once they released they were more enemies to fight with.

"Eh look boyz! We got mor' ov dem astertes comin 'ere! Letz git krumpin, WAAAAGGHH!" An ork boss shouted once he spotted them.

"WAAAAAAAAGGGHH!"

"Providing support!" A Deathwing Centurion announced as he lifted his arms, each holding a Protonic-pattern plasrifle with modified storm-pattern bolters attached to his wrists and linked to belt-feeders in his backpack. Aiming his weapons, he poured devastating fire at the orks, felling many of them under while a shoulder-mounted Kraken launcher eliminated any heavy armored Nobz in sight.

The orks were thrown in disarray from the Centurion's fire, giving his brother Spartans cover to swarm them completely and the Humanity's Children a chance for breathing space.

Jonson himself lead the charge, swinging his sword left and right in blinding speed that left orks as sliced fruit. A Darkwing next to him sprayed a group of orks in promethium with his inferno gun, dousing them all in flames.

"AAAIIIEEE! IM ON FIIIYYAA!" Cried an ork running around in fire and unfortunately spreading it to others. "QUIK, GIT SUM' WUTER!"

"We don't hav' wuter! Ehhh…quik, stup, drup an' rol' aroun'! Dat shoud work!" Suggested another ork.

Taking his advice, the ork stopped, dropped to the floor and rolled around…over the edge and into the pit. "AAAGGGGHHhhhh…!" He yelled as everyone stopped what they were doing and stare dumfounded at the scene.

"Oops. Sorta fergut about dat 'ole ther'. Hur hur hur…" The ork awkwardly chuckled before being cut off immediately from a bolt round exploding his head. Fighting quickly resumed once everyone got over their shock and started shooting once more.

Jonson thrusted his hand forward, sending a psychic wave into a cluster of orks and sending most of them flying in the air or into the chasm below. In the corner of his sight, he saw Chief Librarian Ezekiel smashing his fist into the floor, releasing a shockwave incinerating any nearby orks and destabilizing the platform he was standing on, causing it to collapsed into the chasm. Gathering psychic energy within him, he augmented his jump to clear the disintegrating machinery of its solid matter form and reach the safety of another. Planting his feet to the floor, he launched a psychic Hellfire warp at multiple orks, burning them beyond recognition before finishing off any that survived with his infamous sword, Traitor's Bane.

Shield readings in his HUD piped up when multiple slugs broke across him. Spinning around in the direction they came from, Jonson took note of the massive size of the ork and how well it was armed compare to the others. Expanding his mind to encompass everything in this room. He could feel the aura of the ork glowing much higher and seemed to be washing over the others and suspiciously felt another one that he couldn't quite put his finger on despite the fact he could almost recognize the aura and its feeling. Concluding in his mind to find the last one later and deciding the first was indeed Warboss Bonestomper in flesh. He slammed his sword into the ground and bellowed a challenge, "Come face me now Bonestomper!"

Upon hearing his name called, Bonestomper turned to face the Human Primarch and noticed his challenging stance. "You wunna fite' me? I'll cruzh ya' 'umie badly like a grot!" He yelled back. Bonestomper himself stood over three meters tall and decked out an incomplete mega armor that should've been to heavy for the ork to carry, let alone fight in it. Most of his face had been replaced with crude bioniks along with his entire lower jaw. On his left arm, a power klaw could be seen melded with the flesh and was armed with four, jagged blades glowing in power. His right arm was somewhat bare, rippling in pure muscle and wielding a massive choppa that looked like a hybrid between a chainaxe and a hammer wider than a human's chest. Hanging from his chest, as trophies were pieces of human armor the Warboss himself defeated and boasted about, a sight that snapped Jonson.

Quickly summoning up warp fire, he flung it as a fireball at the overly sized ork in anger. Crying in surprise as the fireball struck him in the chest, the ork roared in fury once he noticed all his priceless trophies melt to slab and glared at the large human. In blind fury, he grabbed the nearest object to him with his power klaw, revealing to be one of his Nobz and hurled the screaming ork at the Primarch without care.

He dodged to the side to avoid the living projectile; the ork sailing past him and slamming into a Darkwing Guard, toppling both on the floor in a tangle of thrashing bodies.

Lifting himself to a prone position, he lifted his plascannon and fired concentrated bursts of plasma bolts at the Warboss, scorching the surface of the armor but ultimately unfazing the ork. Continuingly to roar in anger, Bonestomper pointed his klaw at the Primarch, revealing a large twin-linked shoota attached to the wrist. Seeing the danger he was in, Jonson quickly jumped aside as heavy caliber rounds tore through the space he was before and yanked his sword from the floor.

Feeling the adrenalin coursing through his veins, his body kicked into 'Spartan Time' as time slowed around him. Moving faster than the naked eye could see, he danced his blade in front of him, cutting down any slugs heading for him with extreme accuracy only a being with the blood of a god could do. At the same time, he focused a bit of the warp in a small sphere no bigger than half a meters in diameter and held it a eye level.

Sensing a break in Bonestomper's accuracy, he whipped out his plascannon and carefully aimed. Less than a fraction of a second later, a plasma bolt left the barrel of the gun and connected with the warp sphere, merging together into a collection of frenzy energies barely understood. The hybrid bolt crossed the distance between the Primarch and the Warboss slowly in Jonson's eyes but at light-speed for everyone else's eyes. Before Bonestomper could register its existence, the bolt slammed into his left arm and melted through the thick armor, disabling the shoota gun.

Further enraged at the loss of his favorite gun, the ork roared in fury and charged at him, trampling several ork in his pathway and slamming aside two Dark Angels with his klaw that tried to stop him. Waiting for the ork berserker to reach him until the last moment, he used his enhance powers to jump over him and continue firing his plascannon at any weak points while Bonestomper slammed into a pillar. Feeling the pillar move slightly away from him and leaving an uncomfortable space between the platform and the chasm below, he dug his boots the floor and both his choppa and klaw into the pillar for support.

Still sailing in the air, Jonson twisted around and landed on his feet several meters away from Bonestomper and fired a stream of plasma hits in the weak points of the ork's armored legs. Roaring in pain and anger, the Warboss pulled tightly on the pillar down, forcing its mechanics to compensate the change of altitude by raising itself up. Using its momentum, Bonestomper pushed himself away and spun around with his big choppa revving in action at the offending human.

Caught off guard by this action, the ork's big choppa easily sliced Jonson's plascannon in half and forced him to psychically launch himself backwards to avoid the power klaw slamming where he originally was. Sliding across the floor, he stabbed his sword into the surface and slowed to a halt several meters away.

Behind him, a Nob saw an opportunity and came charging up with a tankhammer to splatter his brains everywhere. Without giving the ork much attention or thought, Jonson delivered a solid punch in his face without looking and cracked the Nob's spine in half and sent teef flying everywhere.

Pulling his blade free from the floor, he calmly held his sword at mid-eye level as the Warboss charged at him once more with his big choppa revving at full speed. Waiting for a few more seconds until the ork reached an acceptable distance, Jonson immediately rushed towards his opponent and swung his Lion Sword. Bonestomper growled in response and mimicked the action.

Both weapons collided with each other: one forged in fires of steel and iron will, another made in scrap and held together by sheer will alone. The moment both connected, a shockwave erupted from the overwhelming power and pushed away any dust and debris lingering around the duel.

With the dust properly cleared, both combatants were interlocked in their weapons as each one tried to outmatch the other one in brute strength alone. Feeling the ork slowly have the upper hand in the fight, Jonson concentrated on the warp before lashing his right foot out, now enhanced, and struck the right knee of Bonestomper. Howling in surprised pain, the ork lessened his pressure on the Primarch, allowing Jonson to push aside the choppa and slice the ork in his chest.

He quickly ducked to the aside to avoid the klaw swinging past him in retaliation and parried another attack from the choppa before bringing his sword in an underhand stab. The blade succeeded in penetrating several centimeters before a klaw gripped it to a halt.

Keeping a hold on the hilt, Jonson rapidly twisted his body around in avoidance of the choppa tearing through the empty air with millimeters to spare. He gritted his teeth as he tried in vain to pull his sword free from the ork's grip, but he had sourly underestimated the Warboss's strength against his.

A loud war cry broke their concentration as Jonson saw Luther charge with his sword crackling in power and his plasrifle firing at the ork with several other Darkwing Guards. "Luther! Don't-" He attempted to stop his old friend but was immediately silenced with a backhand from Bonestomper, knocking him to the ground. The Warboss turned to face the charging Dark Angels while the Lion Sword still remained buried in his chest. Gripping his big choppa with both 'hands', he slammed it down towards the lead human.

Seeing the incoming weapon, Luther twisted around the impacting club and jumped on the handle. Taking several large leaps on the pole, he fired off bolts in the ork's exposed face. Bonestomper roared in pain as the plasma connected with his flesh and gripped his searing face. Unable to see properly, he didn't see Luther jump on his shoulders and plunge the sword in his right shoulder. The rest of the Spartans plunged their won weapons into different sections of the armor.

Pain exploded from the wounds of the Warboss despite his tough physiology that he kind was famed for. Raging in burning fury, he grabbed Luther with his power klaw, the sharp blades cutting through the shield and Mjolnir Artificer armor with ease. Screams of agony left the throat of the injured Spartan before Bonestomper hurled him across the other side of the room and into a pillar. Smashing into the surface and shattering the workings of the support and badly damaging the power armor. With a groan, he slides from the crater and crashed onto the floor, unmoving. Swiftly, the ork took his big choppa and cut down two Dark Angels in half, spilling their guts everywhere. He grabbed another one and with a single pull, tore the screaming Spartan apart and threw aside the remains without care. Another Deathwing member tried to crush his back but stabbed his klaw into the chest of the veteran and casually tossed the barely alive human down in the chasm below.

Jonson stood shocked as he witnessed his close friend lay unresponsive on the floor and the death of his own 'sons'. Curling his left hand in a fist in anger, he thrusted his right hand, calling up the warp.

The Lion Sword, still remaining in its spot, began steadily shacking much to the confusion of Bonestomper. Without warning, the sword jerked to the side and sliced through the armor and flesh of the ork. The sword spun through the air wildly before caught hilt-first in a hand. Taking his weapon in both hands and staring intently at the groaning ork, he partially stabbed the blade into the floor, causing warp fire to suddenly coat the surface of the sword and his gauntlets.

Bonestomper, who'd been staring at his bleeding chest, looked surprised at the human Primarch. He could see the warp fire casting an eerie shadow in the visor of the helmet.

Seconds ticked by before Jonson spun his sword to battle stance and yelled, "For the Order!" and charged at lightening speed at the ork Warboss.

Bonestomper barely had time to deflect the warp-fired sword from cleaving his head in half with his big choppa. Faster than the eye could see, the blade twisted around dug deeply into the armor and flesh of the ork. Before he his body could register this, the blade brutally ripped free, taking small chunks of his flesh and armor plating with it. Roaring in pain and hatred, he swung his choppa at the human. Faster than the ork could see, Jonson dodged the weapon effortlessly and delivered a deep cut in the right knee joint. Bonestomper felt his right leg slowly tremble over the loss of a specific joint but chose to ignore this.

He tried another swing with his choppa at his opponent. Again, Jonson easily dodged the weapon and sliced into his right elbow, nearly causing him to lose his grip on the big choppa. This time Bonestomper was too consumed in rage to even notice the wound. Roaring in blind fury, he wildly swung his choppa at Jonson who effortlessly avoided every swing, slowly goading the ork to take bigger risks until he made a mistake. At last, the Warboss tried to make a broad sweep in an attempted to remove the Primarch's head from his shoulders.

Jonson quickly parried the big choppa aside and swung his blade swiftly in a downward angle. In a flash, the warp-fired sword cut through the pole forming the support of the choppa as easily as a hot knife cutting through butter. Silence dominated both combatants as Bonestomper stared dumbly at the remains of his big choppa and Jonson patiently waiting for the reaction.

Minutes passed for both of them before something snapped in the Warboss's fungi brain. "YOU BASTURD! YE BROK' ME FAVORIT CHOPPA!" Bonestomper roared in blind rage as froth started building up around his mouth. "IMMA GONNA KRUMPT YAR PUNI BODI AN' HANG DAT SKULL UV YOURZ EN ME TROPHIE CAZE! ILL SHOW YOU LOT WHY I'D DA BIG BOSS AROUN' 'ERE!"

Jonson simply spun his flaming sword gently around until gripping it in a backhand from and held his left hand in a challenging pose. "Bring it…"

Bonestomper bellowed a feral roar and swung his power klaw blindly. Jonson parried it away and retaliated with a slash at the right arm, severing it from the body below the shoulder. Because of his increasing rage, the ork failed to properly notice the lack of limb he didn't have on the right side. He continued swinging madly at the Primarch, not caring if he missed most of time or tore an ork apart instead.

In the other side of the room, Luther groaned in pain as the suit's systems rebooted and injected morphine in his blood streams. Lifting his head from the ground, causing shards of metal to slide of and clatter on the ground. He could see his Primarch fighting the Warboss with a flaming sword and seemed to have the upper hand in the battle. Looking to the side he could see the corpse of a female Spartan of Humanity's Children lying close to him wearing more stylized markings and materials. Turing his head away from the sight, he was about to lift himself to his feet before his eyes widened in recognition at what he just saw on the body.

Quickly returning his focus on the body once more and hoping to be wrong, he scrutinized the body carefully before realization slowly appeared in his masked face at the implications of what he saw.

"The Phoenix Guard…" Breathed out Luther in utter shock. "That's impossible, they can't be here…that would mean that…" He turned around to see Jonson cut off two blades from the power klaw and shove the broken shards through telekinesis into vulnerable parts of the ork's armor. "Ohhh…this won't end well at all. This is definitely going to end again like last time, only this time worse."

Jonson quickly swung his sword in a right arc and hacked off the left arm of the Warboss. Now armless, Bonestomper shook in fury and tried to smash the Primarch skull with a head butt. Jonson ducked faster from the attack and swept his blade outwards, slicing off one of the legs of the ork and causing him to lose balance and crash onto the floor.

Glaring straight at the Primarch without any sign of fear, he watched the human slowly place an armored boot on his damaged chest and raise his sword high. With a single breath, Jonson plunged his blade downward as Bonestomper roared a final defiance before the sword carved into his cranium and reduced his brain to ribbons.

And with that single action, the Ork Bonestomper of this WAAGGH met his end.

**… … …**

A Pelican roared through the air as shells exploded around it while veering around the sky from the multitude of dogfights erupting across the battlefield. The craft quickly performed a barrel roll as a missile flew swiftly passed and exploded in the air, sending heated shards slicing through the air and metal bodies.

The Pelican still kept its rapid descent followed by other transports of the Agente's task force and other reinforcements. Nearly reaching the ground, the craft quickly banked to the right past many burning husks and came to a halt from a certain distance from the ancient structure surrounded by a no-holds-down battle. Hovering above, the ramp opened up to reveal a squad of Astartes armed and ready. "GO! GO! GO!" Shouted the pilot from the speakers.

Complying the request, the squad deployed from the craft along with an armored human as the ramp closed up behind them and the Pelican speeding of in the distance which was mimicked by the rest if the force.

"Everyone in FORMATION!" Hollered Brother-Captain to all the Spartans of the Deathwatch and Black Dragons including the loaned forces of Giardia. As he spoke, dozens of drop pods struck the earth around them, releasing HDSTs and members of the Legion XV, Primarch Magnus the Red and his Scarab Occult guard. "Head for the First Ascension structure! Agente Ravenor will lead us."

Nodding his head to Ravenor, the Agente lifted his power sword in the air and pointed it at the structure, "follow me men!" Cries of approval rand out and together, jogged towards their destination while firing at any orks trying to fight them.

From their point of view, the entire landscape had been turned into a apocalypse-style battlefield with both human and ork kind viscously fighting over the remains. Fighters screamed over their heads as they traded blows with each other or against vehicles on the ground with numerous crashing into the surface and destroying swaths of land along with any unlucky souls too close.

"LOOK OUT!" Screamed out a shocked Giardia Marine from behind his shoulder. Looking over their shoulders, everyone scrambled out of the way as a Gargant smashed into the ground close to them and a Titan Warhound stomping by and finished it off with a blast from its volcano cannon. Just after destroying its target, the Warhound is immediately struck in the shoulder guard from a large shell. Turning to face its new opponent, it comes face-to-face with a Great Gargant and activates its war horn to initiate a challenge between the two machines.

Knowing what was going to happen next, Magnus gathered his psionic powers together and teleported everyone from the field just as the two titans clashed together.

At the entrance of the structure, the men of Jericho and Caliban were gruelingly holding back the ork forces until a flash of light behind distracted many of them. Hundreds of guns were cocked in the direction of the tangle of groaning metal bodies before realizing they weren't enemies.

"Ughhhh…warn us when you decide teleport everyone like that Magnus." Moaned Captain Ahzek Ahriman as the feeling of nausea invaded his head. In the background, the sounds of helmets depressurizing followed by vomiting could be heard from many others who felt the same sentience.

"Apologies, but that was the only action I could take before we got stuck between a titan fight." Retorted Magnus while fighting off a wave of dizziness from teleporting the entire task force. "At least the landing wasn't to rough."

Slowly, most got to their feet as they inspected their surroundings to see where they had landed in. It only took a few looks around before it dawned to them that Magnus had succeeded in teleporting everyone right at the mission's target. A voice however interrupted their musings.

"Are you lot's mind wandering again? Get back to your positions before I whoop you all a new hole!" Yelled a Major to his men to which was received with many grumblings from the soldiers but was otherwise carried. "Spartans, less staring at teleporting people and more spilling ork blood!" Several of the Astartes huffed in annoyance but otherwise listened.

Happy that everyone was back in their posts, he returned his attention to the group. "Where is the Agente? I was informed he would come here."

Heads turned around in search of him until muffled shouts were heard. Pinpointing its origin, all set of eyes were fixed on Primarch Magnus who tilted his helmet in confusion before realization dawned on his face and quickly stood up. Below him, Agente Ravenor laid deep on the ground, making a clear outline in the soil. Veteran Jorge came over and pulled the dazed Agente with one hand from his earthen prison, leaving behind an accurate imprint of him in the ground.

Dusting Ravenor of all the dirt and grim he had all over his armor, Jorge gently set down the Agente who took a moment to compose himself after nearly being crushed. "I am Agente Ravenor of Sectium Xenos. And you are…"

The man saluted at attention, "Major Carski of the II Regiment, IV Division, I Corps under Lord General Alexander. We also have one full company of the Dark Angels and elements of their first two elite companies. We have bee-" An explosion above interrupts him, "-been holding out since the last three hours against the orks nonstop. But now that we have reinforcements, I'm confidant that we'l-"

"_Major Carski!"_ A voice rang out from his vox, cutting off.

"What is it this time? Did it happen again?!" He demanded back.

"_Umm…no…but that's not what I'm calling you for!"_

"Then what? Spill it out!"

"_Sir, it's the orks…they're fighting amongst each other!"_

"What?!" Exclaimed Carski. "I need to see this." Without any indication, he rushed back to the lines while quickly followed by Ravenor and Magnus. Sure enough, once they reached the trenches they could see the thousands of orks turning their weapons unto each other with large Nobz taking control of their own mobs.

"Their Warboss must be dead." Concluded Ravenor from past experience and knowledge. "Right now the top Nobz of the now-broken WAAGGH will try to make themselves the leader by eliminating any competition regardless of the situation and restart the invasion. Send vox messages to everyone to take full advantage of this before we lose this opportunity to destroy their filth effectively."

Carski nodded his head in acknowledgment and yelled at several soldiers to relay the Agente's orders.

"In the meantime, we still have a mission to complete regardless of what is happening now. Major Carski, I will leave it in your hands to continue securing our hold on this region and defend this installation. Understood?"

Carski saluted, "Crystal clear milord."

Ravenor smiled, "good then." Taking one last look at the battlefield he turned around back to the waiting task force. "Except those who were selected to accompany us, the rest of you stay back and protect our backs."

Concluding his commands, most of the task force marched past him and settled themselves in defensible positions while only a squad of Black Dragons and two squads of HDSTs stayed back. In the meantime, Magnus ordered his accompanying legion to disperse across the defenses while keeping his personal guard with him.

Looking at each other, both gave silent nods before slowly approaching the opened doors of the structure and entered it.

**[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]**

Space Hulk _Grave of the Stars_

"Eat nuclear energy you green fungi!" Shouted Marine Lance Corporal Gunther while firing his melta-gun at clump of orks, effectively melting them to green goo. He quickly moved behind cover as the rest of the unit advanced for his devastator squad to move up safely.

The entire boarding force had been fighting for what felt like hours since they exited their rams. Since then, they have been doing the arduous task of traveling through the random labyrinth of the hulk and eliminate any orks they came across. Which was easier said then done. Didn't help much when teams would end up running afoul of warp entities that had 'acquired potential' hosts from wayward orks and causing them endless trouble.

He shivered a bit at the memory of an encounter. He definitely wasn't going to forget that voice for quite some time. His group soon entered a small room filled with scattered junk and scrap.

"Sey 'ello tu my littul Deffgun, DAKKA!" A voice rang out.

"Jump for cover!" Ordered the Master-Sergeant. Not a second later, heavy caliber bullets cut through the hallway and three unfortunate Marines who reacted too slowly. Everyone else had managed to move fast and thank their shields for taking the brunt of the attack.

"We have three men down, sir!" Cried a Marine from his cover while trying to trade fire.

"By my father's beard, they're too exposed for us to help them." Grumbled the old veteran; "the orks trapped us really good. Which is not good for us."

Before any more comments could be made, a strange noise is heard behind them followed by something whisking faster than their eyes could see and cleave the ork manning the deffgun vertical in half.

Whipping their heads around fast enough towards the origin to give themselves a whiplash, what they saw chilled their bones.

Standing with his right hand outstretched, a black halberd materialized in his hand while the other wielded a weapon that looked similarly to a lascarbine but with a much 'darker' appearance. The rest of the man was covered in pitch-black armor that didn't reflect light and wore a black cloak with a hood covering the head of the man along with a dark visor forming the entire face. Several of the men gulped slightly upon noticing what looked like shadowy wisps slowly _seeping_ from the body.

Gunther's breathing along with many of the other's was caught in their throat when three others _materialized_ from the dark corners of the room and in one case, from a man's own shadow.

The four mysterious men gathered together and seemingly seemed to be communicating with each other. In a sense of curiosity, Gunther tried to touch the mind of one of the strangers but upon coming in contact, felt something _terrifying_ lingering in the mind. He immediately broke the mental contact and rushed to the safety of his own, his face having lost color and breathing heavily. In the corner of his own vision, he could see similar actions made by his unit as they to failed to distinguish what they felt. A cry rang in the room as heads turned to see their official Epistolary yank off his helmet and grab his head while thrashing in the floor in pain.

Many of the unit rushed over to their comrade in worry while the strangers simply stood silently without moving. One of them looked back to the others as those asking for something. Without any visual answer, the man calmly walked up the thrashing pysker while the Marines kept their weapons ready should he try to harm their friend.

Kneeling down next to the man, the stranger extended his left arm forward outwards, causing several of the Marines to grip their weapons tighter.

Extending a finger, the stranger touched the forehead of the pysker, suddenly causing the screaming man to slowly tone down and go into a semi-slumber mode instead.

If the Marines had looked slightly closer, they would've noticed a wisp of smoke leaving the head of the man and into the stranger instead.

With his work done, the stranger backed away slowly and rejoined his companions. Just as some of the men were about to inquire them for information, only wisps of shadows remained of their spot before fading away into the dark corners.

The sound of their Sergeant speaking broke them from their confusion. "Slow your breathing down Nellus! Look in my eyes and calm down." He spoke calmly to the pysker Nellus as the man slowed his breathing. "Now, what happened?"

Nellus looked at his Master-Sergeant in the eyes. "I-I felt something. Deep and unreachable yet close to the feel. Fire. Pain. Hatred. Terror…"

He looked around at everyone and spoke the last word that chilled the spines of all listeners, "…and Darkness."

* * *

Imperial Codex:

Mechsuit: _a revolutionary technology in Imperial Warfare. The Mechsuit is designed off from the schematics of the Dreadnought suit with one distinct feature that anyone rather than someone close to death can pilot it. Standing slightly taller than its counterpart, it is a force to be reckoned with. Armed with weapons ranging from power claws or Avetus-pattern melta-guns for close combat to heavy bolters or Scourge-pattern plascannons for ranged attacks. The Mechsuit is protected with layers of titanium and ceramic plates with thin adamantium pieces covering vital sections. It is equipped with both ion and plasma shields for maximum protection and runs on the latest Fusion Mini-core Mark VII in the lines._

Disintre-Beam: _a large space-weapon that can summed up as a 'giant laser/plasma beam'. Its immense size and requirement of energy means it can only be placed in large capitol ships and defensive stations since they carry the necessary power source of Plasma Reactors Mk. IV. The Disintre has a long charging timer but once unleashed, few things can survive a hit from one. Turrets that fire this weapon can range in a length of 30-meters to 15-meters wide and height. Firing range can depend on the source; warships have a known range of 40,000 kilometers maximum while stations can go longer at nearly 100,000 kilometers and sometimes longer if the power output is higher._

* * *

**And that's for Chapter 11 guys!**

**This chapter took me like forever to complete and lots of major changes in the details.**

**Like and Favorite guys**

**Remember to post reviews (no flamers!)**

**The Ork Warboss is now dead. What will happen next with the WAAGGH? What revelation did Luther come to about the Humanity's Children? Just what the heck did the pysker see in the Silent Guard's mind?**

**Adtendite a tenebris.**

**Now to the trailer!**

* * *

**(A/N: Using the soundtrack of the Dark Below Trailer in Destiny or something similar to make it awesome)**

_[Camera pans on a dead world covered in massive cracks on the surface and crater-holes]_

~Deep in an unknown world, somewhere in the Halo Stars regions, an ancient foe could be felt rising~

_[Camera quickly switches to a massive hole surrounded by twisted, hollowed archaic architecture forming a ring band with towers and opened caves]_

~Three armies; one of Light and the other two of the Mantle traveled down to face it~

_[Camera moves over the ridge of the crater, presenting a view of a deep chasm riddled with more archaic architecture with floating bridges glowing in a dark-green texture inter-connected the pit while mists floated everywhere]_

~Less then four hundred walked alive from the planet~

_[Camera switches view to the side of the chasm while slowly lowering, wisps of shadows can be seen leaking out of the archaic structures, giving off dark whispers and low-pitch shrieks] _

~All of them barely alive and nearly broken~

_[Camera then switches to upside down and slowly moves down while the view of the outside world slowly disappears. The frequency of bridges increases while the shadows continue to whisper and shriek]_

~We are the Damned. Last of the ill-fated attack on that wrenched world~

_[Camera switches to a deeper position while the outside world is barely visible to view. The shadows increase their frequency and tone]_

~We have seen what truly lies in the darkest pits of the Cosmos. Something Dark… and Hungry~

_[View of the camera turns dark before vision returns with the camera slowly rising out of a murky, slick liquid surrounding a platform. The chamber is barely lit with dark-green torches barely showing a large figure standing with what appears to be a sword]_

~Krotaz~

_[Camera zooms in on the sword while dark-green flames with dark wisps erupt from the hilt of the blade and travel down the blade]_

~Son of Oryxic and God-Prince the Skograic~

_[Camera follows flames as they touch the surface of the platform and begin traveling across carved lines]_

~Wielder of the Ngalnic Sword and Bearer of the Torch of Izindr~

_[Camera pans above the figure as the flames begin forming a jagged seven-petal flower with a three-banded ring crossing it in the middle]_

~Darkness will rise no matter what and he will be those who lead its forces~

_[Camera zooms in the face to reveal five glowing eyes with chitin-like skin/armor, crooked nose and a mouth filled with jagged, sharp teeth]_

~And once it does rise from the pits~

_[Camera begins zooming away from the figure while in the background, at the edges of the water, eyes begin glowing in the dark from hidden forms and figures begin materializing from the shadows]_

~The entire Orion-Cygnus Arm and Perseus Arm will tremble in fear~

_[The figure Krotaz lifts his sword into the air and screeches a hoarse cry, mimicked by the rest of his kind in the room. The view switches to dark a screen]_

~Now, we must face what comes from the Darkness and its Pantheon, the Dark Powers~


	12. Chapter XII

**I'M STILL KICKING HERE GUYS! The writer's block shall not have me!**

**Here is (finally) chapter 12 for you hungry readers! Lets hop to the reviews that need to be answered:**

_**Apocalyptic Wanderer**_**: Not sure about their reaction to the Guard. I hadn't planned for them to come face-to-face yet. There will be operators with a wide variety of psionic powers arranged in different orders. **

**And for your first question, it's not good (to the family).**

_**SPARTAN-626**_**: Carter is part of the Lunar Wolf **_**Legion**_**, not chapter. I'll think about the details.**

_**mr I hate znt nobles kill em**_**: **

**-yes they are divided in chapters. Its for better tactical movement and arrangement to allow them to respond quickly. It works on a similar level for the rest of the military.**

**-There are female spartans. Sisters of Battle Chapter are a unique all-female chapter of spartans in the legion.**

**-She would happen to look much more beautiful than the average female or as a female warrior.**

**-Yes, they still have their feminine looks compared to their male counterparts. They still need to look good in battle.**

**-Yes they do. For the Imperium: 'Imperial Credit'. Covenant: 'Energized light'.**

**-At the beginning, yes they will because they don't know the difference but later they will learn it.**

**-The Halo Array would be too well defended for orks to loot plus the fact it very difficult to rip stuff that is made from decomposable matter. For Hurogok, they would just use for target practice.**

**-Yep. They ARE sentient after all.**

**-Yes they would (except maybe chaos) because they were created in this story by the Precursors themselves, who are much more advance then all three races. They probably **_**might**_** go crazy with ork tech, or maybe not. **

**-No manual labor, the Imperium is too advance for that crap.**

**-Anti-pysker is not big deal in the Imperium. Unless you were an Insurrectionist, they not only want independence from Terra but to have humans to return back to pure status: as in no psionics genes, augments, and bionic limbs since to them its "unnatural".**

**-Yes there are, unfortunately.**

**-The augments changes mostly focusing on the unborn fetuses so the newly discovered humans can accelerate in evolution to where the Imperium is. **

**-Crime is a minor issue, sure there is plenty od stealing but if caught, they get placed in community service for how long the punisher feels like. While those who commit worse are sentenced to Servitor for a last chance to redeem themselves. **

**-Not to big since the Imperium has a massive economy to support themselves from tens of thousands of worlds. **

**-yes they, it depends on your ranking in the society and position in branch you hold. **

**-Yes I will, soon. They are still here, just not at the rate like we have.**

**-As annoying brats**

**-Something like a big problem (especially to the Eldar)**

**-There a re a few hidden ones but located in younger colonies.**

**-The 'Lord' is mostly a title awarded to families whi have shown tremendous achievements and accomplishment whether in the military (most of the time) or in other branches. **

_**MEleeSmasher**_**: The legions that do have female Spartans are Humanity's Children, Ultraspartans, Dark Angels, Alpha Knights, Raven Guard, Word Bearers, Eternal Scars, and Sons of the Empyrean. **

**Okay enough talking, I have a chapter to show to you guys!**

**Spoiler's Alert!: there's a fact twister that will (might) blow your minds! Heheheh…**

**Now…Lets dive into the story!**

* * *

**Battle of Curwen II**

_Why do you say that Darkness is the essence of evil? Mm? Is it because it torments races to the oblivion or turns them to the shadows? Is it because their servants use ghastly powers and speak in vile tongues? Or is it the fact you believe those who use the strength of the shadows are no better than an abomination? _

_Yet I stand here before you wielding the power that would be despised by those who see themselves as the righteous and the pure. I hold knowledge that would be destroyed and called unspeakable by those who believe in the Light. I utilize weapons capable of turning those not of the shadows to a moment of untold agony with but a mere touch._

_Yet I still stand without you trying to strike me down and prevent my 'evil acts' from coming to fruition. I can see the doubt and curiosity in your eyes. You wonder what is true and what is false? That if you can trust those that taught you this knowledge? _

_Let me tell you something that your 'righteous' people don't tell you. _

_Is it a terrible crime to choose one Cosmic force over another? Is it wrong to go into the embrace of the Darkness simply because it does not look friendly? Do you believe those who join the shadows are nothing more than horrendous people who commit heinous acts for fun?_

_Yet I stand here before you without trying to slaughter you and bathe this world in a storm of agony to appease my gods. You accuse me as a monstrous that forgoes the peace for war instead. Yet your naïve minds of the Light blind you from many truths. My mind may belong to the Dark Powers but my heart still belongs to the Humanity. I serve one end and stay centered while grasping their primordial truths. A balance in the fabric of the Cosmos that must constantly be shifting. _

_Where both sides subjugate their wills on anyone regardless of how it is done and what they feel about it._

_So tell me now, who is truly evil here? _

_-Grandmaster of Shadows Eldiner Valgus to a 'Champion of the Light'._

* * *

**Unknown location**

**Unknown date**

A blurry vision greeted Thel's sight as he drowsily opened his eyes. He could feel the nerves around his body flared in pain while his senses felt clogged and impaired. He could feel something attached to his mouth that supplied him with air.

Straining his head around, he could see that he was in a small room filled with several Sangheili wearing white robes and fiddling with machines. He could barely hear the faint voices the medics were making with his ears.

"…Patient has numerous broken ribs and his left arm is nearly shattered."

"The Primary heart had been punctured and has lost 10% of his blood."

"Sonar scans show small fractures in the skull and possible brain damage."

"The patient is waking up! Quickly, sedate him before the pain gets worse for him! We must start the operation now."

Feeling the piercing of a needle and the injection of its contents in him, Thel began feeling the effects of fatigue slowly placing him to sleep. Feeling the strength in him leave, he could see above him a circular object lower close to him wielding multiple arms each holding a medical tool. His last sight was the face of a Sangheili medic putting a surgery mask on before blacking out.

* * *

**Nova Prime System**

**Agri-World Curwen**

**First Ascension Installation**

**3.532.M36**

Jonson pulled the Lion Sword from the skull of the dead Warboss Bonestomper and gently wiped off the blood on the corpse. Deactivating the sword and stowing it away in its scabbard, he observed his surroundings to see his Spartans clearing the last of the orks from the room. With the death of their leader, the orks had lost all cohesion and had disintegrated into different warbands each one with their own Nob vying for control of the ork mob.

"Primarch Jonson!"

Turning his head, his mind froze momentarily at the sight of Luther being supported by a Darkwing Astarte.

"Luther! Are you well my friend?" Jonson asked worryingly. He'd remembered seeing him stabbed and thrown at a pillar by Bonestomper in a quick succession.

Luther gave a hearty laugh that quickly turned to coughing. "Huff…nothing that won't heal at all in the Apothecary Jonson. I'm more concern about the aftermath of the battle." He finished while giving a subtle indication towards the gathering survivors of the Humanity's Children.

Unsure with Luther's reasoning he expanded his mind around the room to see what he had meant. Shifting around the place, he could feel the minds of his own 'sons' and several of the third Legion until coming in contact with another presence. At first, he thought it was Magnus's own mind, but closer inspection and familiarization of the presence told him otherwise.

He could feel the mind trying to retreat from his presence but quickly blocked its attempt of escape and gripped it in shackles while his voice boomed through it. _~You will tell me who you are and why you have the presence of a Primarccc…~_ He trailed off as the identity of the presence became clear to him once he forced it open. Confusion and disbelief filled his mind as he processed discovery until disappointment and anger replaced all emotions.

"Luther," he spoke in a noticeable calm voice.

"…Yes, Jonson?" Luther's voice answered back with nervousness in it.

"Finish securing the chamber while I have a, ah…sibling discussion." He answered too calmly much to the discomfort of his men. Without waiting for a reply, he strode off towards the cluster of Humanity's Children where he pinpointed its origin.

The Spartans made a solid blockade in an effort to deter him, but a quick glare shot at them made a clear message, _-Do not interfere- _

Slowly as a wave, the Astartes of the third Legion parted aside Jonson's gaze as he approached his target. Visors carefully watched his movements for any sign of aggression but did not attempt to stop him. Behind him, the Dark Angels observed the event and kept an eye on their fellow comrades for hints of ill intent.

Watching as the last Spartan moved aside from his path, he stepped past them and faced a small band of Phoenix Guards positioned around a human standing slightly taller then them and wearing a beautifully crafted armor.

Coming to a halt, he looked at the human for several seconds before he broke the silence. "Victoria…"

Taking off the helmet, a young women's face is shown with Caucasian skin, platinum-silver hair, and light-blue eyes staring back at him. "Brother…"

**… … …**

Space Hulk _Grave of the Stars_

In the a chamber of a fused ancient ship, Martin summoned up a wall of darkness from numerous rounds of slugs fired by excited slugga boyz.

Breaking the barrier down, he swung his Black Glaive halberd in a spinning arc and cleanly sliced a trio of orks in half. Not a second later, he whipped his left hand out, launching a dark pulse towards a cluster of grots trying to run away, dissolving them to ash.

In a flash of movement, Martin battered aside several slugs aimed at him and threw his halberd at their origin. Briefly watching his weapon cut through the ork ranks, he closed his eyes and immersed himself into the shadows and entered the Evershadow Plane.

Opening his eyes, he found the chamber of the derelict hulk replaced with boundaries of shadows imitating its dimensions accompanied now filled with countless dark forms of orks. Jumping aside to the wall on his right, Martin raced across the wall as he watched the aura of his weapon silently slice through the shadow figures before jumping off at a figure and felt reality distort around him before coming face-to-face with a surprised ork.

Not giving the ork the chance of reacting, Martin quickly punched him the face and sent him soaring through the air and crash into his fellow greenskins.

Hearing the sound of flesh being torn apart behind, he sprinted forward towards the orks and leaped up unto the wall next to them and performed a one-eighty degree flip over their heads and into their mist.

Landing on his feet, he held his right hand behind his back and before a response could be made, the ork behind him was quickly cut in half by the sailing glaive halberd and clamped right back into Martin's opened palm.

Faster than the eye could follow, Martin spun his halberd above his head in a whirlwind of death, decapitating any orks in range and driving the tip of the blade into the chest of another one.

The glaive easily tore through the tissue, muscles, and organs of the ork before exiting out in the back and stab a choppa boy behind. The blade immediately flared to life in dark energy and the ork began breaking apart slowly in flakes of ash in utter silence.

Yanking out his weapon out from the chest of the dead ork, he jumped aside as an axe slammed in the empty spot and thrusted the glowing glaive into the skull of the offender, reducing the ork's brain to powder. Launching out a pulse around him, he sensed the orks greatly outnumbering him five to one.

Knowing that he didn't have the sufficient power, he slammed the butt of the pole on the floor, causing a series of jagged black runes to form around him in a circle. With the circle completed, Martin began chanting in a dark tongue, the each word burning through his throat.

The orks closest to him suddenly dropped their weapons and grabbed their ears in a futile attempt to block the terrible words carving into their minds. Ears were ripped off or crushed to block the agonizing sounds.

The runes surrounding Martin soon started glowing in a dark shade of green and released wisps of shadows quickly absorbed into his body. He could feel his strength rising threefold and his reserves increasing. Finishing his ritual chant, he released the flow of power channeling into him, causing the runes to burn out.

Taking his halberd in both hands, he gave it an experimental spin before adopting a battle stance with his legs spread out, his left hand stretching down to the floor while his right laid on his back with his weapon resting on the forearm.

Watching the orks carefully for any surprises, silence filled the air before broken by an ork. "Letz git 'im boyz! WAAAAGGHH!"

Roaring in agreement, the ork mob charged straight at Martin, ready to clobber him into mashed meat.

Smiling at their eagerness to fight him, Martin waited for a second before spinning to his right and slice two orks in half. He then swung the halberd around and removed an ork's left head from the body before pulling the butt ends backward, crushing the windpipe of choppa boy behind.

Back-flipping over their heads, he landed and shifted behind an ork before reappearing behind a Nob ten paces away, cutting him in vertical halves. In a blink of the eye, he jumped right back into the mist of the orks and slashed his way through.

Martin could feel himself move faster than he would normally be able to do. In his vision, one moment he would be stabbing an ork followed by removing the head, the next he would be deflecting slugs fired at him while hacking apart more choppa boyz all while he kept switching into the Material and the Evershadow Plane.

_**~Notice their Pain and Agony.~**_

He faintly heard the whisper in his head as he ripped apart orks with his bare hands using darkness. He knew what it was; he could feel it in his mind.

_**~Hear their Screams as you tear them Apart.~**_

He tore a panel off the wall and jammed it into a Nob, embedding both into the opposite wall. He shifted through the shadows and exited with his fist buried in the back of a surprised ork before tearing it out with a spinal cord in his grip. Letting power flow into the piece of flesh, he threw at another ork and turned around to cut in half the weapon of a slugga boy before slicing him in the chest, causing guts to spill out freely. Flaring in miniscule runes, the spinal quickly slithered up the shocked ork and coiled itself around the throat, crushing the windpipe.

_**~Let their Pain be your Senses.~**_

An ork slammed brutally into a wall followed with a choppa driven into his chest and activated. Martin thrusted his right hand behind him, causing old power lines to break free from the ceiling and ensnare several orks around their necks before dragging them up back up into the small panels.

_**~Let their Anguish be your Tool.~**_

The whispering started becoming louder as he slammed the glaive into the floor, causing a cloud of shadow to envelope a seven meter diameter around him, slowly suffocating any orks in it as they desperately clawed their throats for air that no longer existed.

_**~Let Hatred be your Weapon.~**_

Pointing the halberd in the direction of three orks, beams of dark energy shot out and shredded the orks into ashes. He could feel the pressure increasing over his head; he could not stop nor end his fight. He tried reciting to clear his head.

_~We are the __**Shadows.~ **__We__are the Unknown.~_

He could feel the whispers influence his recite, slowly trying to break him down.

_~We are the Watchers of Night.~ For __**Dark**ness __is our __**Soul.**__~ Yet **we ar**e Loyal~ To __**US**__ For**ever**.~ We have __**BROKEN **__the __L**ight.~ **__And__ em**braced **__the__** Dark.**_

He could feel the whispers puppet his mind, his body reacting to their overwhelming power.

_**To be**come__ the __Si**lent**__ ones~ To __ta**ke **__**the**__ Duty of the __**Dam**ned__~ And __Ete**rnally**__ be __**Bond**ed__…~_

_**~ LET THE OBSIDIAN GATES BE OPENED!~**_

_~SNAP OUT OF IT MARTIN!~_ A voice rang out.

A gauntlet quickly connected with his head and sent him crashing into the wall, breaking the link. The whispering immediately stopped and he felt cold metal touching the chink of his armor where is throat stood.

Looking up, he could see Shadow Master Vincent of the Silent Guard holding a dark sword at his throat while pointing a crafted Void-pattern hellrifle at his chest.

_~You almost allowed it to control you~_ Vincent calmly spoke to him while raising the blade a little higher. _~Had I not felt the sudden change in your aura in time, I would have had no choice to but kill you before you fell beyond recovery~_

_~I…I apologies for my moment of weakness Shadow Master.~_ Responded Martin shamefully at the implications. _~I had made a grave error in underestimating it. It will not have another chance again.~_

The Shadow Master took his words under consideration before nodding and removing his blade. _~Make sure you remember that well Novelus Martin~_ Dematerializing his weapons, he looked around to see the countless ork corpses all gruesomely killed by the shadows. _~Should you devolve deeper past the pronounced line, fate will not be kind to you and your existence…twisted~_

His back shivered at the implications of the sentence. He didn't want to think about the consequences if he had indeed dug deeper.

**… … …**

Outside the Installation

"I lovz dis challeng!" Cried a large choppa boy as he joylessly smashed the skull of a human soldier with his hammer. Hearing as roar of anger next to him, another human soldier jumped at him to avenge his comrade with a revving chainsword.

Not breaking a sweat, the ork pulled out his hammer and swung at the charging human. The hammer connected with the human on his right side, knocking him to the ground and out of breath.

Taking his choppa hammer with both hands, he prepared to deal the final blow. "WAAAAAAGG-*BLAM*-!" His shout interrupted with his chest exploding outwards, covering the downed soldier in the charred remains of guts.

Four kilometers away from the fight, the Vindicator Assassin shuffled his Exitus to the right slightly and fired. The rifle produced a loud explosion as the rail gun technology of the weapon launched an EX-Round at FTS speed straight into the upper back of a lesser Warboss and plunged through the armor and muscle, digging further into the body until the delay fuse reached its time limit. Suddenly, the back of the ork exploded in a gory shower of muscle and bone shards, the ork unable to scream in pain without a spinal cord left in the body to help register this.

Watching the watching the corpse collapse to the ground, he continued scanning the battlefield for more targets that posed a threat and needed to be eliminated. Placing the view of the ancient installation in his scope, he carefully inspected the walls and nearly concluded his search before something barley visible caught his sight.

Pointing his scope to the area, he zoomed into the spot until he got a clearer visual of his discovery.

Sneaking through the Imperial lines in some sort of camouflage cloak was a humanoid figure silently weaving around the alcoves and walls surrounding the structure. Synchronizing his helmet to the scope, he tried scanning the figure for any information.

**+Scanning life form…/+ +/…Scanning complete+**

**+Species: Unknown+ +Technology: Unknown+ +I.D: Unknown+ +Status: Unknown – Threat Level Gamma+**

**+Eliminate threat+ **That was all he needed.

Aiming the figure into the center of his scope, he slowly started pulling the trigger. He was quarter through the trigger when a tingling feeling nabbed him in the back of his mind.

Widening his eyes, he moved aside as a energy beam sheared through the left side of his helmet and his shields and badly damaged the rest of the helmet. Using the last of HUD's power, he quickly spun around at its direction and calculated its trajectory before firing back instantly.

Over two kilometers away from his position, a similar figure like the first one hiding in a garden of stone dodged the shot. Unfortunately the Vindicator's aim proved true, the round flew past the head of the humanoid but struck an outlying protruding rock and exploded, showering the figure in explosives and stone shards.

Tearing off the useless helmet, the Vindicator took out a set of eyepiece that soon morphed into a new HUD set. Aiming his sniper rifle at the outcropping boulders, he could see a figure walk out with a weapon and noticed it didn't wear a helmet.

Taking in the new xeno, he could see it looked alarmingly Human-like features except appearing to be far fairer and perfect compared to the ruggedness and sharpness of a Human. Almost suspiciously close to the elves of ancient mythology in Terra's past.

**+Re-calibration status of Species now Designated as Elves…/+**

**+Status: Threat Level Alpha+**

_**+Exterminate with Extreme Prejudice+**_

Both sides stared at each other as they tried to gauge each other's motive. Even though they were separated by a long distance, the augmented eyesight of the Vindicator and the uncanny sight of the 'elf' allowed them to see each other's details.

Tightening his fingers on the handgrip of the Exitus, he stared at the xeno before swiftly aiming his rifle and firing off a shot.

Spinning around to let the round miss, the elf brought out its own weapon to play and fired lances of energy at him.

Rolling to his side to avoid the fire, he took cover behind an outcropping boulder and huddled behind as energy beams chipped the stone. Unable to take a free shot at the xeno, he releases a tube-like device from his belt and placed a flash on the tip. Taking a moment to check the ammo count in his rifle, he could see he had twelve rounds left in the clip.

Waiting for the firing to slack a bit, he ran calculations on the distance of his target, wind speed, the ejection force, everything a sniper needs to know make the perfect shot.

Hearing the firing rate dwindling slowly, he quickly pops out from cover and fires the device and returns to cover just as a new wave of energy fire strikes his former position.

The elf meanwhile was to preoccupied with his opponent to notice the approaching device until it struck the ground next to him and exploded. Grunting in pain at the sudden bright light searing through its iris lens, it stopped firing as it tried to regain its sight.

No longer being fired at, the Vindicator sprinted out from cover and fired round after round at his distracted enemy.

Even though blinded, the elf used its heightened sense of hearing to dodge the approaching rounds and dodge them within a nick of time. Pulling the trigger, he hears a 'click' from the rifle and curses while rapidly disengaging the magazine for a new one. Noticing the elf seemingly recovering its eyesight, he swears under his breath and drops a grey canister to the ground.

Having recovered its sight, the elf takes advantage of the Vindicator's weakness and returns fire. Lances of energy strike around him with two smashing into his shields, bringing them two-thirds below. Slamming a new clip for his weapon, the grey canister immediately activates, covering twelve meters of area with smoke and obscuring the view of the elf.

Firing several experimental shots into the smoke, it growled in frustration at the lack of visual it had at the moment. Continuingly to watch the mist for any signs of breaking to spot it opponent. Seconds passed before the smoke began to slowly dissipate when a new sound enter the field.

Recognizing the sound to be coming from a machine using anti-gravity technology, the elf looked everywhere trying to discern the origin of the noise. Unable to find the culprit around it, realization dawned upon its eyes as it whipped its head back to the mist and points its weapon just as the culprit made its appearance.

Breaking through the dying mist like a phantom rider was the Vindicator himself riding his jetbike with a smug expression.

Backpedaling to keep a distance from the new threat the elf desperately tried to eliminate him quickly with bursts of concentrated fire but couldn't make any of the shots connect to the fast bike.

Using his legs to expertly control the jetbike, he held his rifle with both hands and steadily fired at the elf that desperately tried to drag itself from the deathtrap it found itself.

Gritting its teeth in anger at the human making a fool out of it, it presses something on its belt resulting in its figure to blend into the terrain.

Raising an eyebrow at the show of technology, he fires several shots at the estimated position the elf occupied before disappearing. Suddenly, the area of the target explodes in a shower of multi-colored fragments, dispersing throughout the air as they assembled themselves in a jigsaw puzzle while moving forward in a direction.

Now knowing where his target was located, streams of explosive rounds flew towards the distorting space. To his surprise, several of the shells lost balance or exploded once connecting with the field while other passed through with little effect. He wondered if he managed to injure or perhaps kill the elf.

His musing is quickly answered with lances of energy erupting from the rainbow cloak towards his direction. Manipulating the controls of the jetbike, he narrowly avoided the beams while continuously returning fire with his own rifle.

But like any of his past shots, none of his were seemingly making any headway of hitting while the elf's own fire came dangerously close to hitting him despite the fact he was moving very fast.

Narrowing his eyes at the shifting field while loading a new ammo clip to the Exitus, he twisted the controls of the bike and sped towards the anomaly. Aiming his rifle, he pulled the trigger of his weapon repeatedly, feeling the gun kick back into his shoulder with each shot without relenting in emptying the magazine.

As he neared the target, a lance clipped his bike, nearly causing him to lose control while another one struck his torso, bringing his shields down by 23%. Increasing the speed of his vehicle, he ignores another energy bolt striking his shoulder as he nears his multi-colored destination.

With a yell, his bike smashes through the field, shattering the barrier to countless fragments and exposing the elf's shocked expression in his vision. Quickly freeing his left arm to the side, the elf's face is immediately greeted with a gloved fist traveling at over two hundred and fifty kilometers per hour smashing squarely in the center.

Sufficient to say, the Laws of the Cosmos were not kind.

Stopping a kilometer away, the Vindicator turned around to observe the body of the elf for any signs of life. Believing the xeno do have been put down from the strike alone, he placed the Exitus on his lap and silently worked own is communicator to contact his superiors.

Without warning, an energy bolt strikes his arm housing the communicator device followed by another melting the mechanism of the Exitus. Pressing the pedals to maximum speed, he quickly places himself a distance of a roughly half a kilometer from last position and returns his vision to the origin of the shot.

Dragging itself to its feet with the support of its weapon was the elf itself, much to his chagrin. Standing to its full height and cracking some of its limbs, it spat a glob of blood to the ground disturbingly similar to Human blood.

Frowning at the elf's refusal to die, he revved the bike's engine and sped towards his opponent. As though knowing of his intent, the elf rolled aside and fired a single shot, striking one of the anti-grav devices.

With the loss of an anti-grav, the bike instantly loses balance and crashes into the terrain with its driver. Quickly reacting with speeds allowed by his augments, the Vindicator jumps off the doomed vehicle and uses its momentum to roll unto the ground safely without suffering any major injuries whiling coming to a halt less than forty meters away.

Rolling to his feet and placing his hands to his twin holsters on his hip, he pulls out two Exitus pistols in a duel wielding style and fires their smaller ammunition of EX-Rounds at the elf.

Taken off guard by the human's fast recovery, it fails to avoid several of the rounds from damaging several components of its armor suit. Outraged of what he had done to its armor, lances of energy are fired from the barrel of the weapon in response and batter down the Vindicator's shields and burning through the carapace armor and synskin.

Performing a barrel roll to avoid a fresh round of energy beams, he cries in pain as a bolt burns his left hand, knocking the pistol from his grip. Smacking another grey canister to the ground with his right hand, his figure is soon covered with another smokescreen from the elf's sight.

Knowing two can play in this game, the elf activates its cloaking device again, causing it to disappear. Just as the device finished forming, it sees a strange squared-cylinder flying at him from the smoke. Widening its eyes in recognition, it shuts its eyes and braces itself as the device activates, creating a bright light mimicking that of a sun.

By cutting off its own vision, it, however, failed to notice the Vindicator rush out from the smoke and fire aggressively at it while cutting down the distance separate both of them.

Feeling several rounds passing by with one striking its right chest and cause a non-fatal injury. Raging in the inside at the action, it opened its eyes and charged at the human assassin, completely disregarding its advantage with the cloaking device.

Reacting quickly, he dodges an energy bolt and fires a single round from the Exitus, connecting with the weapon of the elf and completely disabling the device from functioning.

Throwing the useless weapon to the side, the elf instead decides to collide with the human and roughly knock the remaining pistol from his hand.

Falling to the ground in a heap, he quickly responds with a heat butt to the face of the elf. Grabbing its face in pain, he uses its distraction to switch places with it and slam a fist towards its head.

Faster than the Vindicator believed it could move, the elf dodged the incoming fist as it dug into the soil instead. In a quick succession, the elf punches him across the face and throws him overhead to gain space.

Heaving slightly once his back connected with the harsh ground, he pushes himself to his feet and looks back at his opponent. A fist immediately greets him by smashing into his chin followed by a powerful kick to the left torso. Tumbling on the ground, he could feel broken rib or two on his left as the elf smacks him once more across the face.

This time, he was better prepared for this for once he spun around from the strike his foot lashed and delivered a harsh kick to the mid-chest of the elf, nearly denting inwards the center of the armor and restricting its ability to breath properly.

Jumping to his feet, the Vindicator charged straight at the elf, delivering a strong uppercut that whipped its head back to nearly break its neck. Not giving it a chance to recover, he performed a roundhouse kick to the torso of the elf while feeling the satisfying sound of armor and bone crunching under the force.

Sending the elf rolling a couple of meters away from him, it slowly stood to its feet and casted a hateful glare promising untold pain. Slowly behind its back, it took out a thin blade and held it in a menacingly pose.

Eyeing it carefully for deception, he carefully searched for his Exitus pistols but found them to be too far for him to reach safely. Deciding to entertain the xeno, he took a pair of kukri knifes from his belt and held them in a battle pose.

Both opponents slowly circled each other like two apex predators readying to commence a duel to the death on a strength of superiority.

Without warning, the elf struck first with an overhead swing to decapitate the Vindicator's head in a blurry speed. Barely keeping up with the speed, he blocked the strike with both knifes and shoved it back.

Fumbling back for balance, it responded with a downward thrust at his torso but he quickly dodged it and intercepted with the flat edge of his knife to force it off while slashing at the neck guard with the other.

The attack was deflected with the elf's own gauntlet but left it opened that allowed him to deliver a slash to the abdominal suit. Hissing in pain and anger, it spun around him and swung at him in a two-handed attack.

Meeting the sword with the left knife, the elf quickly tilts the blade slightly at several degrees, allowing the blade to easily slip pass the guard. He reacts with a low sidestep and swings in the other blade held in a backhand grip.

The elf blocks the knife with a parry but pushes too deep under the blade when the Vindicator swings in his left kukri at the opening to target the unprotected wrist holding the pommel. It instinctively reacts with pulling the sword backwards to allow the knife to harmlessly strike the flat end of the blade instead.

Twisting around the sword, he surprises the elf with a deep stab into its left chest, drawing a strangled growl of pain from it. Moving quickly, he elbowed it hard in the torso, knocking its breath out and throwing it over his head with the knife still attached.

Spitting out globs of blood from its mouth, it inspected its wound and let out a pained laugh, confusing the human. "It see-seems you have accomplished what o-others have failed to do, _human_." It spoke the last word with abysmal intent.

"So the xeno decides to speak now." The Vindicator coldly responded.

"I could have sp-spoken before but to use this primitive tongue would mean to lower one's se-self to an unwelcome position." The elf spoke each word in the Human's _Latinus _language with unconcerned pronunciation.

He growled under his breath as his grip on the remaining kukri tightened. "What are you?"

"I'm afraid I-I do not under-understand." It questioned with a grim smile.

"Do not play games with me xeno!" The Vindicator snarled as he spun the knife to a halt at its neck, pricking it. "Answer the question or the earth will be _drinking in your blood_!"

The elf laughed quietly at the human's brash tone. "What am I? We are something your mortal minds can-cannot understand. We are the _elders_ to many races including yours, high above your reasoning of existence."

"What?" He faltered at the information, his stance slacking in confusion for a split second. A split second was all it took.

Faster than what the Vindicator could see with his own augmented eyes, the elf shifted forward and slammed him to the ground several meters away, losing his grip on his last kukri. Feeling his head ringing loudly and blotches of colors covering his vision, he tried to stand up but was quickly struck in the face and felt a blade slice through his armor and skin.

Stumbling to the ground, he shook his head and succeeded in ridding most of the distractions. Spitting his own blood from his mouth, he could feel the lingering taste of metallic from his own life source. Hearing the sound of metal tearing through skin, he looked up to see the elf slowly pulling out the knife he had previously placed there. It showed no signs or emotions of suffering pain from this action or acknowledgment of blood still pouring from its wound in small quantities. He realized that the elf had been playing him for a fool by acting as though the injury had done great damage to it. The elf approached him a placed a foot to his chest, pressing down its weight that he could hear his ribs creaking under pressure.

"While I enjoyed our exchange of fighting as respectable warriors, I have more important matters that must be seen to at behest of my Archon. I prefer not to miss my chance of _prizes, _especially those of a new species that can provide more excitement." It said in a sickening tone, coupled with a sadistic grin.

Growling in hatred at the xeno, the Vindicator tried to push it off but stopped as pain racked his body and he could feel his muscles spasm slightly. "Wha-Arrggh!-What have you done to me you damned xeno!"

"Oh that? That is poison coursing through your body, bringing intensive pain and chemicals to overwork your muscles so they tear themselves apart." It answered in uncaring, deplorable tone. "The blade was coated with the substance when I cut you. I was surprised that you had taken longer for it to take effect compared to many others previously. Then again, your biology had been vastly different."

The human had not been listening to its explanation, instead struggling in agony as the poison tore his body apart while the elf heartedly laughed at his fate and basked in his pain. For a brief moment in his tormented mind, as a single conclusion came: he was not going to simply lay down without a last fight.

Roaring in hatred and pain, he struck his right gauntlet to the ground, producing a hidden blade covered in a wreath of energy. Swinging aimlessly, his blade struck the foot holding him down, severing tendons in the elf's foot.

Crying in pain from the unexpected attack, the elf lost balanced and was shoved off by the enraged human. Rushing forward to pick up the kukri knife it had pulled out from its wound, he launched himself at the shocked xeno.

The elf barely deflected the powerful blow of the gauntlet knife as the human fought in an animalistic state, swinging his blades in brutal attacks without style and ignoring any successful strikes the elf caused to him. His body still continued to wrack in abnormal pain, now being both suppressed and bolstered by the vast amount of adrenalin being pumped into his veins. He could feel his muscles tearing themselves faster than before from the high doses being pumped in but didn't care, he was going to die and he was going to drag that filth with him.

With a bellow, he shoved the kukri deep into the abdominal of the elf then proceeded to grab its head with his right and pull it down to his swinging knee.

Howling in pain, the elf snarled with malicious intent glowing in its eyes as it ducked a blow and grabbed the left arm before breaking the elbow into two places. A sickening 'crack' is heard as the joint is broken accompanied with an agonized scream.

Falling to the ground in pain, he tried to get but quickly fell with major spasms racking his body in greater frequencies. He could feel the muscles in certain parts of the ripping apart as the poison and adrenaline overworked them.

Instinctively knowing he didn't have much time left, he supported himself in a hunched position with his fully functioning right arm whiling taking his left to grab a sphere from behind his belt.

Charging at the elf, he brought his right fist to bear and swung at it. Reacting faster, the elf quickly caught the fist in its place with its own hand. With an effort, he swung his other hand but was also caught.

Glaring with malice at the smirking elf as his body harder with most of the muscles nearly close to tearing. Already he could feel froth building in his throat while nerves throughout the body died from the overwhelming pressure.

"Its seems I've change my mind, I will instead take my time to torture you while you still breath until only agonizing pain is imprinted into your soul by the time you ascend from death." The elf calmly spoke while ignoring blood flowing down its face and grinned with a sadistic smile. "We will have a _very_ _enjoyable time together_."

Giving a grunt as the only answer, the Vindicator slowly brought his left hand to the center of the struggle and twisted it around, revealing a unique Nova grenade.

Staring at the grenade in shock, the elf stared back at the grinning human. "Ego sum dignus!" Was his last shout as he primed the grenade.

The grenade 'beeped' in activation before engulfing both beings in a ball of expanding energy.

**… … …**

Veteran-Sergeant Neider thrust his chainsword into the chest of an ork, the diamantine teeth easily ripping through the muscle and bone of the greenskin. With a cry, he dragged the weapon out sideways, throwing the orks innards everywhere and covering himself in more alien blood.

Hearing an ork shouting behind him, he twisted his body around and collided his chainsword with the chain weapon of a choppa boy. Holding his weapon steady against the incredible strength of the ork, he switched the grip of his chainsword and pressed a button. The teeth of the chainsword immediately changed direction, wrenching the weapon of the orks in a different direction.

Not giving his opponent a chance, he swung the chainsword and brutally tore the head of the ork from his body.

Taking a moment to catch his breath, he suddenly heard a loud 'boom' in the distance behind him.

"Sir look! An explosive matching an Alpha-grade Nova grenade!" Pointed a young Lance Corporal in the distance. Walking beside to see where he could see the expanding haze of energy signaling a leftover from an explosive.

Taking a moment to look back to see the condition of the platoon, he could see they were still sweeping the region filled with orks with their parent company.

He placed a hand to his helmet and spoke, "Asker? Do you read?"

"_I read you loud a clear Sergeant. What's the report?" _

"One of my men has spotted recent remains of a nova grenade, alpha grade at least over two kilometers away. I'm requesting to investigate since we have no known men in that area." Neider replied.

"…_Copy that. Your squad is in charge of the investigation. I will be sending in two more squads after you once we're done here. Asker out."_

"Understood. Neider out." He turned to his men waiting for his orders. "Everyone reload. We're going to investigate an explosive that might be signaling a battle where none of our men are registered. Let's go!"

It took around thirty minutes of jogging to reach the scene of the battle and once they arrive, they were immediately greeted with the sight of a blackened circle measuring fifteen meters in diameter with two charred corpses in the center.

"Secure the area for any more survivors! Dalis and Weiss, check the bodies." Ordered Neider.

The two men obeyed and walked to the corpses while everyone else scanned the area for anything else alive but found none. Minutes passed before the two men reported.

"Sergeant, we identified one of the corpses as a former Vindicator Assassin. ID is 2746A34D-LII." Informed Dalis

"LII? What is he doing here? His last report placed him three kilometers to the west from here!"

"And the other corpse…"

"What about it?" He inquired.

"It's not Human," Weiss replied.

"What?" Questioned a squad mate.

"Do we need to go further?! The DNA readings came up with little results." Berated Delis, "the assassin had been fighting a xenos."

Neider took the information to thought. "Mm, vox this in Henry."

Nodding in acknowledgment, he placed a hand to his helmet while Neider turned around to stare at the bodies.

"Warrant-Lieutenant Asker, this is squad Silver reporting. We have found the corpse of Vindicator Assassin 2746A34D-LII and the remains of a xenos spec-AAAGGGHH!"

Neider spun to face the crumpling form of Henry gripping his head in pain now that the helmet looked fused to his cranium. His shields immediately lit up at eighty-six strength once an energy bolt struck his left shoulder. "SEEK COVER!" His words barely left his mouth as another beam narrowly missed First Corporal Johann's head.

Jumping to his command, the squad dove to any cover in the area whether boulders or trees as energy bolts assailed them. Another squad mate dragged the injured Henry behind a large rock and propped him against it.

Neider whipped his Hellrifle at the directions the bolts were originating from and fired quick bursts of energy in retaliation. Faintly he could hear one of his men calling for help.

"This is Silver Squad calling Platoon Command in we are under attack! I repeat, we are under attack! Unknown enemy forces firing ion-grade energy weapons at us! We already have a man down! Requesting reinforcements for needed assistance ASAP!"

A gruff voice answered the call. _"Copy that Silver squad. Squads Nickel and Steel are rushing to your position as fast as they can go. Hold out fo-…-fif-…" _

"Command?! Do you copy? Can you hear me Command?! I'm not getting a signal Sergeant! We're being jammed!" He could hear the panic in the young lad's voice.

Twisting around as lances struck his shields, Neider fired bursts of lasers at the direction before jerking in back to cover. "Keep the channel open and find that signal!"

"Sir! We have xenos surrounding us and nearing our positions!" Yelled Dalis over the dim of his Nonlinear weapon charging and firing.

Hearing the sound of feet connecting with stone behind him, he whipped around and holding the rifle with his right hand, unloaded hundreds of joules of energy into an armored humanoid. The lasers punched through its protection, causing the body to seize up and collapse next to him. Not hesitating for a second, he brought his foot on its neck and crushed the supporting bone structure to pieces.

Hearing a cry from one of his men, he spun around and froze at the sight.

Standing over the halved corpse of Weiss was a humanoid wielding a massive single-edged sword inscribed with green runes and coated in blood. The armor it wore looked both sinister and ancient to his eyes. Its pauldrons, gauntlets, and greaves were decorated in spikes while its helm had two glowing eye visors and two horns jutting out from the top and bending backward. A single crevice traveled down from where its nose would be and ending below the where the mouth would be located. Additionally, two large razor blades extended from its shoulder blades and arched over half-meter above the shoulders.

"KILL IT!" Neider yelled as he fired a stream of lasers at the xeno. Moving faster, the armored humanoid easily dodged the incoming fire and launched itself at Johann. Screaming in terror, he tried to avoid the attacking enemy but the xeno proved faster of the two, easily slicing past his shield, armor, and body with its massive sword.

At a different cover, Conrad and Henry screamed in agony as steam seeped through grooves located around their armor. Their own blood boiling beyond imagination.

Steeling himself at their direction, his blood turned could at the sight of _another_ one, this one with a blood-red stone as big as his fist fused to its armored chest. Feeling a tingle in his neck, he ducked and rolled aside as a blade cleaved through the empty air.

Yanking the chainsword from his belt, he swung the chain weapon at the armored humanoid that lazily deflected the attack. Twisting around for an opening, he dropped his rifle and gripped the hilt with both hands before swinging at its head. Faster than he could see, the humanoid moved its head in avoidance and slammed the hook end of its blade into his chest.

Feeling the air escaping from his breath and his chest constricting, he stared speechless at the sword as it was calmly pulled out and caused him to collapse to his knees. Desperately lifting his head to face the humanoid, they both made eye contact for several seconds before the armored one swung its massive sword at his head.

Veteran-Sergeant Neider managed to see the blade whipping at his eyes before his vision turned to black and ceased to feet anything.

**[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]**

Incubi Darhil silently watched the headless corpse of the human warrior collapsed to the ground in defeat. Behind him, he could hear his two blade brothers finishing the last of the human group judging from their screams of pain followed by silence.

"What are our losses Darhil?" Spoke an eerie voice.

Slowly turning to face the speaker, he saw Hierarch Kelith Vesperax walking towards him with two more blade brothers trailing behind him.

"Three Kabalites have been lost in the trap along with Vastix to a human assassin." He reported.

"It doesn't matter." He replied uncaringly. "Take their bodies if any remain to the ship. Urien will restore them once more."

"What of the rest of the humans shortly arriving?" He inquired. 'Shall we eliminate them? This fight held no satisfaction."

Kelith waved off the concern. "We will be gone by the time they arrive. They are no concern to us and do not deter us from our objective."

"Your Archon promised to the Shrine of Grey Blades when he hired us that we would be facing much fighting and death." Darhil coldly responded. "He appears to be failing to carry out his promise."

Anger glinted in Kelith's eyes as he strode to the larger Incubi, "watch what you say worm. When your shrine agreed to the arrangement, you would be fully under Archon Vect's orders regardless of what he commands you to do. If you cannot handle a moment of peace, then he will simply dump you fiends back to the stone where you come from and acquire better Incubi from say, the Shrine of the Black Shield."

Bristling in anger at the insult of his shrine and the nerve to speak the name of the despised shrine in their presence. Darhil resisted the urge to simply strike down the Hierarch and let him drown in his own blood. Around him, his blade brothers stood at hidden readiness should things turn downhill.

"I…withdraw." He finished, releasing his grip on the Klaive that he had been previously holding tightly. The rest of the Incubi relaxed their stances at his sentence. "We will still follow."

"Excellent," replied Kelith quite evilly. "We leave now. We have no business here now." At once, all the Eldar in the area vanished into the air.

**[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]**

Space Hulk _Grave of the Stars_

Novelus Martin silently followed Shadow Master Vincent with Novelus Henrico through the desolate hallways of an ancient starship. Searching for the command of the orks in this place had been proven to be harder than they though. The death of the WAAAGGH's Warboss had resulting in multiple fractions erupting across the ship each one vying for control of the massive junk station.

So far, they had managed to eliminate two minor warbosses and were now searching for the one calling himself 'Redskulla' who had gathered a considerable large number of orks including Mekboyz needed to run this place.

Turning around to another corner into a large hold, the Shadow Master stopped walking, prompting Martin and Henrico to stop as well.

_~What is it Master?~_ Martin asked.

_~I feel something vibrating wrongly in the shadows.~_ He answered in a deep trance. _~I can feel the shadows relaying unbalanced sensations and demented feelings…STAND STRONG!~_ He shouted out with his eyes glowing in dark green.

_~What? Against what?!~_ Henrico cried in confusion.

_~A servant of the mad ones is approaching!~_ He snapped back whiling activating out his dark sword and hellrifle. _~I can feel the shadows flinching from its corrupting filth!~_

Re-materializing his black glaive in his hands., he held the weapon pointing at the other end of the hold where a set of large decayed doors stood hanging from their clamps.

Heavy 'thuds' could be heard as _something large_ neared their position with each step. He could feel the corrupting presence the thing was emitting as it came closer.

Just as they began, the footsteps stopped before reaching the doorway but the Silent Guard could still feel its chaotic presence trying to unravel reality around it.

Suddenly, a screeching echoes across the rooms as metal components connect with each other and scrap together, producing a horrendous sound. The doors immediately begin bending and slowly tearing apart s something sharp breaks them opened. Not a moment too soon, the doors collapse under the intensive pressure.

What comes through sends both Novelus flinching at the sight of the horror standing in front of them.

Standing over ten meters in height, the daemon had the appearance of an ancient, twisted organic-metallic body in a hunched position. A pair of long arms similar to that of an insectoid ending in claws with seven razor-sharp blades/fingers on each hand. eight massive appendages extended from its back with each one ending in a tri-prong claw supporting the weight of the body. At the bottom where its legs would be located were instead metallic tentacles constantly shifting around and grabbing anything lying on the floor. At its head, six eyes glowed in ethereal light positioned in a cross form. Unlike most daemons, its mouth instead took the form of an insectoid coupled with pincers. Around its body, tomes and scrolls hung from its detailing forbidden knowledge capable of driving mortals insane from simply reading one word. All in short, a Greater Daemon.

Crawling across the floor with its appendages it observed the room with its multiple eyes before settling on the three humans.

"_**What is this?!"**_ It hissed in demand in a croaky voice. _**"Agents of the Dark Pantheon here? Be gone off this place this instant, the hulk does not belong to the Darkness but to the Ruinous!"**_

Vincent strode forward and pointed his sword at the daemon. _~Everything the shadows touches belongs to them! And your presence is not welcomed in the Materium, Greater Daemon Remembrance of Time, servant of Lazori!~_

Martin briefly wondered how this particular daemon managed to appear here, but suspected that it possessed a weirdboy on the first chance.

Staring deeply at the bold human, the Remembrance of Time growled in annoyance, clicking its mandibles together. _**"You dare tell me this? The hulk stands between the planes of reality and the souls even when enclosed in one end. Something you should be aware of Shadow Master of the Silent Guard."**_ Vincent flinched at the announcement.

"_**Surprised?"**_ The Remembrance of Time asked, 'smiling' at the smile. "_**I know of many things in the Cosmos that you have no idea. The knowledge that even the wannabes Lord of Changes would be envious of since they cannot hope to attain such knowledge that we have."**_

Skittering closer to the group, it continued to press in. _**"I can give you such knowledge that would not imagine. Information that could potentially fill the Archives of Voltas to brim with knowledge no other race could hope to achieve."**_

_~Lets see…~_ he placed a hand to his chin to 'think' about the proposal. _~How about NO and you can go fuck with a Keeper of Secrets while proclaiming yourself inferior to it!~_

Hissing in anger at the insult, it flared its mandibles and claws in a threatening gesture. _**"Fools you are. Your will to the shadows blind you of the potential you could gain for so little sacrifice if you swear allegiance to the Keeper of Time!" **_

_~Men.~_ At their mention, Martin and Henrico placed themselves in battle stance. _~Let us banish this fiend back screaming to the warp and to its master!~_

With a yell Martin hurled his black glaive halberd spinning at the daemon while Henrico slammed his to the floor, releasing a wave shadows at the it. Vincent rushed forward and slashed the air with his dark sword, creating a black crescent shape rushing at the warp being.

As the strikes sailed towards it, the Remembrance of Time takes a tome from its torso and flickers through the pages at will, its eyes glowing with greater power.

"_**Let us commence NOW!"**_

* * *

_Ruinous Powers Codex:_

_Lazori, The Keeper of Time_: from what me know of, Lazoki is a ranking mild warp (between major and minor) deity in the vast Pantheon of Chaos Gods inhabiting the Realm of Souls. He represents the aspects of intelligent life form's memory, detest, permanent, and stubborn. Noticeably known to clash constantly with the opposite aspects of Tzeentch, The Changer of Ways. His traits shown with his followers and servants are preservers and scholars whom show interest in keeping information and knowledge infinite regardless of its importance.

His Greater Daemons are known as Remembrances of Time, who are said to know everything that exists whether it is an invention or a new word. To them, knowledge is vital and sacred.

His Minor Daemons are referred as Heralds of Comprehension, who come forth with tomes of terrible knowledge for mortals willing to risk reading them. They appear as hunched robed figures with a hidden face only betrayed with their six glowing arranged in a pattern.

His domain is the Library of Lazori and like any other chaos deity, is located in the Realm of Souls, or known to some mortals as the Warp/Immaterium. For anyone to enter his home, they must first pass through the _Mausoleum of the Forgotten_, a massive structure encircling his home encompassing catacombs of hallways and chambers. In these walls lie the whispering and wailing of knowledge either destroyed or purposely forgotten in the mortal plane, desperately pleading to be read or listened by anyone. Most beings, whether mortal or immortal find it difficult to ignore the words for all this is lost knowledge, but to read even one word or listen for just a second can potentially trap you in the Mausoleum, your soul trapped forever to read the forgotten.

If successful in navigating through the structure to the center outside, you come in view of the _Infinity Library_,a tall structure covered in ever-shifting existing runes of power capable of driving mortals mad simply by reading them while spires constantly rise and fall, representing the use of specific knowledge through time in all realms. If able to enter the gates into the library, a being must brave through the corridors where endless elements of tomes line the walls and are constantly preserved and guarded by legions of Heralds. In these halls, knowledge can break free from their prison tomes and enter reality while driving anyone insane incapable of understanding or ensnaring any unfortunate daemons to be trapped in the pages. Only Keepers of Time are capable of passing through the information safely and enter the center room of the library, the _Sanctum of Wisdom_, where Lazori keeps his prize tomes of the greatest knowledge and lore in existence.

The Sacred number is 11.

Mark of Lazori gives followers' enhanced intelligence and unlimited knowledge in regards of what they choose to know.

Gifts of Lazori: _Daemonic name:_ Lazori himself shows a champion of his own his true name in the Realm of Souls. _Book of Lazori_: a tome containing the finest lore from the Lazori himself that allows the wielder to know the fabric of existence. _Daemon weapon_: a weapon granted to a champion containing the essence of a Herald of Comprehension daemon. _Face of Lazori_: a champion is gifted with Lazori's visage of ethereal eyes coupled with his mandibles and metallic skin. _Banner of Skill_: a conglomeration of scrolls containing indescribable lore that glows in power, granting skill beyond understanding to a wielding host. _Staff of Perpetuity_: a bearer who wields this staff carries the will of Lazori himself, able to tear knowledge straight from the minds of mortals and the pages of tome without physical contact. _Eon Spear_: a weapon that is capable of tearing enemies apart with but a touch through the overwhelming flood of knowledge of complexity. _Face of a Herald_: a bearer features the face of a Herald daemon. _Face of a Remembrance of Time_: the champion is featured with the face of a Remembrance of Time daemon. _Runesmith_: a bearer is rewarded with the ability to create and utilize advance and powerful runes in any shape or form regardless of its origins. _Crossbreed with Herald_: the champion becomes a hybrid of their original form and a Herald of Comprehension.

Imperium Codex:

Black Glaive Halberd: _as the namesakes suggest, this weapon is imbued with powers of the Darkness and is a popular choice of a _tool_ by the Silent Guard. Forged in black _forges_ in the realms of shadows, these weapons are destructive when utilized correctly and assist the bearer in managing their powers without fear of falling._

Dark Sword:_ similar to the black glaive, this weapon takes the form of a sword instead that is usually wielded only by seniors in the Silent Guard. These blades channel far more power and link the bearer's mind dangerously close to the shadows._

EX-Round:_ a more powerful cousin of the bolt round used in large sniper rifles and autocannons in the military. _These shells_ are tipped with tungsten shards for maximum penetrating of a _target_ with a special deuterium core much more volatile._

* * *

**And that's for chapter 12 guys!**

**Let me know if I did well with creating a chaos god in this story cause it took me forever to think and research for this, so you lot better appreciate this! **

**And before you guys start raging and sputtering 'heresy' at what I did with Fulgrim. To tell you guys the truth, when I rewrote the third legion to Humanity's Children, the character of Fulgrim did not strike me as the right guy to have in charge of this group. Then I remembered that none of the Primarchs have **_**sisters**_** plus the fact Fulgrim tends to act a **_**little**_** bit feminine. So I thought 'hey, why not make him female instead and rename it Victoria? That'll twist the story' and thought is was a good idea. So I'll let you guys decide how you feel about it. Oh and one last thing, there is one last female Primarch but she is not in any of the two new legions or popular ones. I'll leave you guys to the guessing but if any of you succeed, your awesome!**

**Love, Like, Favor this story. And lots of reviews!**

**How will Johnson react to seeing his sister in this place without his knowledge? What about Magnus himself?**

**The Dark Eldar seems to be up to no good for our unfortunate Agente. Will he find out their plans before its too late?**

**What did Martin nearly fall to? How will the three Silent Guard succeed against the greater Daemon?**

**Find out next in Galaxia's Wars series!**

**Animo umbris sentias.**


	13. Chapter XIII

**So sorry for the loooooonng wait guys I have no excuse other than being occupied with vacation and just simply being lazy.**

**Because**** of that, we'll jump right into the story**

**Unto**** Chapter 13!**

* * *

**Battle of Curwen III**

_Contact with xenos always renews one's faith in Humanity. It is my belief that travel beyond the stars narrows our mindset wonderfully straight for the challenge._

_-Helem von Boesch_

* * *

**Unknown Location**

**N/A .M36**

Hierarch Vesperax patiently stood silent before a series of hanging sacks of wet flesh pulsing in irregular beats as incomprehensible moans and sounds emitted from the heart of each one. He stepped back slightly as a glob of liquid flesh and blood dripped from the nearest sac close to his boots. The sac quivered in rapid pulses from the aftermath before settling down back to a normal beat.

Staring at the sac with an emotionless expression, a sudden glint of light flashes in his face before disappearing at the unmistakable sound of approaching footsteps.

Not waiting for the figure behind him to talk, "how much longer Gruemenael till they are reborn?" he asked rudely to the Haemonculus behind him. "I have rather unfinished business to deal with and I hate to be a delay." He ended with a darkened look pointing at the figure.

The Haemonculus Gruemenael stood slightly taller than the Hierarch by several centimeters but that was due to the fact he wore a skull of a reptilian creature over his head for reasons Vesperax cannot fathom, let alone the fact it still had decayed pieces of flayed flesh clinging to the bone filled with tiny flesh-eating creatures that did nothing but worm around. A large robe of skin and fabric fused together covered the mutilated body of the Dark Eldar from outside view but Kelith knew from experience that under the cloth were arrays of terrible tools and deadly weapons ready to be brought out in an instant should the Haemonculus need them on an unfortunate victim. One thing however that stood out about this Eldar was the presence of an extra pair of horrific arms vaguely reminiscent of a human extending from below his original ones with a third arm of a type that Kelith couldn't identify but carried the appearance of a bony skin arm arching over his right shoulder. Briefly, he wondered if there was a human slave right now in this ship sitting in a cell sporting no arms. The very though nearly gave him an uncontrolled grin in amusement.

His moment quickly became short lived as the Haemonculus shuffled past him and stopped before the sacs. "It should not much longer now Hierarch," rasped Gruemenael in a cold, stone - grinding voice that sent a brief shiver down Kelith's spine. "Their feeling of agony is rising and the sacs now begin to churn."

True to his word, the sacs immediately began pulsing faster than ever and the rate of the blobs increased feverishly. The moans at the beginning that was once low quickly turned to guttering screams of agony and unnatural excitement. The sacs suddenly started rippling across their surfaces and uncontrolled thrashing around as their insides behaved like hatchlings desperately trying break through an egg of flesh and bone.

Not a moment too long, an arm broke through the surface of a sac in the corner of the room and started ripping off more of the prison flesh which was quickly mimicked by the rest of its neighbors that soon followed through. Both occupants of the room gazed upon the sight of four cocoon sacs slowly breaking apart in sickening sounds as the screams reached a higher pitch before suddenly ceasing one by one as a body broke through their sac and hit the ground in an unmistakable wet 'thud' followed by large quantities of liquid flesh splashing on them.

Before them four perfectly, healthy Dark Eldar stood naked at attention at the present of a Hierarch, not bothering to cover themselves up.

Silently, Gruemenael walked up to them and inspected each one for any signs of defects or mutations that could have unexpectedly formed during the regenerative process. While Haemonculus could regenerate a living being down to its cells with near-perfection, there was the occasional time where one came out looking rather...freakish for better lack of words. And unfortunately for those unlucky ones, the sadistic torturers often don't take kindly to their works being ruined by a malfunction and tended to 'rearrange' the mistake in their own personal or coven way.

Looking over the last Eldar, Gruemenael hummed a haughty tone, pleased with the fact his results came out perfect with no deformities present.

"Well?" Demanded Kelith to the Haemonculus.

Separating himself from the group, he turned back to the Hierarch, "they are whole and ready now, in the meantime..." His fifth arm thrusted out quickly and ripped the torn cocoon sac from the ceiling into his hands, I'll leave you to be."

Walking up to the group of reborn Eldar, he looked at each one in their eyes before gently moving his right hand and removing a wicked knife shaped as a blooming, jagged plant from his belt and held it before them by its tip. "Tell, what does the blade tell you of itself?"

Silence filled the group as the four racked their minds trying to understand the request of their Hierarch before one of them stood straighter. "I recognize the inscription on the metal,_'Feel the beauty of the flowery thorns entangling your soul'_. That is its meaning."

"Good, and do you know of what it represents?" he inquired. The Eldar thought for a moment but steadily shook his head, frustration burning in his eyes at the lack of ability to answer the question.

Not getting an answer from him, he turned to the other three, "and you? Is the meaning understandable to you?" Like the first one, none of them could answer his question. Kelith sighed in annoyance at the lack of answers he was getting from being subtle. It was time to go straight forward with his plan.

"Very well then, I'll inform you of the blade's representation." And without warning, spun the knife from its tip to its handle in his palm and in in a blink of an eye, delivered a savage cut into the chest of the eldest Eldar in the group at the end of the line. The remaining three Kabalites wisely moved away from their dying group member as he slowly fell to his knees and clutched his bleeding chest.

"Did you really think I would not have not noticed you carrying such a blade on this ship hailing from the House of Syveniek, _Vastix_." Kelith asked with a disappointed expression on his face as he stood next to Vastix's dying body. The dying Eldar attempted to shoot a glare of anger but the pain in his chest increased tenfold, causing his chest to open up further.

"If you really had been bribed to assassinate the Archon, you should have thought of bringing a better knife than this wonderfully crafted blade." He remarked while inspecting the blood, carefully watching the blood slowly travel down the engraved metal in a showcase of art. "I think this will look nice in my wide collection of unique knifes, won't you agree?."

Unable to answer, Vastix instead coughed up blood from his mouth as his body was ravaged by a poison. Kelith frowned at the reaction he received. "It seems I may have overdid the poison more than necessary. Gruemenael!"

"What?" Answered Gruemenael as he unceremoniously dumped the sacks on a table covered in countless jars filled filled with organic pieces, the action causing more than one to squirm in the liquid.

He tilted his head towards the dying Eldar on the floor for the Haemonculus to notice. "I need him still alive for now. The Archon still has plans for him."

Shrugging unconcerned with the reasoning of the request, he walked up to the Vastix and without care, roughly gripped him and dropped him on another table this time empty. In quick succession, Gruemenael chained Vastix to the table and proceeded to grab a strange syringe and immediately plunged the tip into the his left arm.

Vastix thrashed on the table and gave a blood curling scream as new pain entered his nerves while the skin around the injection began drastically changing to a darker hue of color.

Returning the knife to his belt he exited the room as the screams began settled down to bouts of agonized groans as he traversed the hallway until it ended at at a menacing black door inscribed with images of famed torturing arts in the Dark Eldar's culture. Before him stood two armed Sslyth and a single Ur-Ghul baring his entrance to the room. Kelith held still as the grey-skin, blind Ur-Ghul sniffed him for confirmation for several seconds before stepping back and growled at the others. At once, they moved aside and and the door opened to admit him in.

Stepping inside, he was greeted with the sight of a lowly lit room with an entire wall at the room opened to give anyone a view of the cosmos. At the center, an iron black throne with two large razor wings jutting out from the sides stood at the center with its back facing him. Silently, he walked to the right side of of the throne and stopped next to it and stood patiently.

"It was quite unnecessary of you to strike him down Hierarch Vesperax with the blade of his secret master." A strict but dark tone informed him of his latest action. "Master Urien would not be happy that his delicate work was put to waste."

Kelith snorted at the name of the Master Haemonculus of The Prophets of Flesh Coven. "I care not what that old fool feels in that deep madness he calls intellect. I had an assassin to eliminate and I should do in ways I feel will work well for me. You should be aware of this Archon Vect"

Deep chuckle came from Vect as as he shifted on his throne for a better position, bringing more of himself into the light. His horned helm glittered in the light as the blackened metal deflected it, his face old yet young and his grey eyes filled with malice, power and intelligence. His black armor and cloak darker than any moonless night and more terrifying than any horrid monster from the deepest pits of hell.

"Come now Kelith, this would not be my first time at being assassinated by a noble who sees my power as a threat to theirs. Though I will admit Syveniek acted acted a little sooner than I expected given his reputation." Remarked Asdrubael.

"What's this I hear now?" A seductively female voice rang through the room as Kelith sharply spun his head to the direction of the voice and relaxed his stance as a figure walked out from shadows revealing to be Lady Aurelia Malys. "Do I hear my little Vecty admitting that he couldn't foresee such a small assassination to his humble warrior?"

Kelith bowed his form at her. "My Lady."

She tilted her head in acknowledgment with a wry smile, "Hierarch." Coming into the light, Kelith could see she was wearing a black breastplate showing much of her cleavage but otherwise covering most of her body with the exception of a bit of her midriff bare to the outside world. A long flowing skirt made of flexible wraith bone and cloth with a long upside down v-cut showing off her slender legs that were armored all the way from the hips to the heels, her bare feet silently padding the floor. An elegant headdress sat on her head that while ebony colored, showcased the richly beauty of her facial features to any observer. Dark amethyst eyes glinted in the light as lithe cheekbones graced her face and her delicate narrow ears studded with black gemstones. Raven hair flowed elegantly from her head to her waist with rings of braided studding its form. Her arms stood bare of cloth below the elbow, exposing her smooth skin with rings of rare metal hanging around her wrists.

Reaching the throne, she leaned next to Asdrubael and hung her arms around him. "It would not do you any good to not let your warrior do his duty of protecting you. After all," She slowly licked his cheek with her tongue as she savored his taste, "loyal Kabalites are so difficult to find in Commorragh among our people."

"Indeed they are my dear." He whispered to her as he returned the lick back to her, inciting a low moan from her. Faintly, a sound of disgust could be heard in the back.

Reacting quickly from centuries of experience, Kelith removed two knifes from his belt and launched them in a flash towards the origin. Before his blades could connect however, a flash of silver briefly caught his eye as another knife sailed through the air knocked aside his own from their trajectory. Pulling his Splinter pistol from its holster, he pointed it at the opposite direction of the knife before stopping at the sight of Lady Malys holding an outstretched hand from her sitting position.

"There is no need for such drastic actions Hierarch." She informed him as she stood up from her place and walked to the corner of the room. "She is after all our guest here on this ship."

Grabbing a chain from the wall, she pulled to reveal none other than the young Eldar female Arcedia. Though she had greatly changed from the last time he had seen her. Before her eyes were once filled with resistance now were instead replaced with defeat and sorrow. Around her eyes and cheeks were dried tear marks showcasing her past emotion since captivity. Her hair had been left to grow past her shoulders and had been braided without her consent and a shackle could be seen clamped around her neck with the end held by Malys.

Kelith felt a tingle of excitement as he observed the rest of her body. A black cloth swept around her chest, mildly covering her assets while small chains hung from the front of the cloth for added weight and decoration. A artistically crafted stone could be seen hanging between her breasts. The rest rest of her body was bare except for another cloth covering her waist with two thin fabrics hanging on her back and front. More chains could be seen hanging around her while her legs and feet remained bare with the exception of black cuffs on her lower legs and arms.

Malys brought a predatory smile as she circled around her. "Isn't she a beauty?" She asked as she gently stroke Arcedia's cheek. "So delicate, so young, so graceful..." she brought her lips next her ear and purred, "so _innocent_."

The last word caused Arcedia to shiver and turn her head away in shame.

"Aurelia." Asdrubael spoke in in a disappointed voice. "What did I tell you about leaving our guests alone. Urien has been complaining to me that you wouldn't leave the them alone and kept stopping him from performing on the girl."

Malys stopped twirling one of her braids at the old Haemonculus's name and frowned. "And let that old leech break the delicacy of the poor girl? Absolutely not going to happen in my presence. He has already her brother to play with. If he so badly wants a female Eldar of the Craftworlds as his plaything, then he ought to find one himself rather than spending his time muttering in that chamber like an old brainless ork who can't decide if he should die from the hole in his chest or not." She retorted straightforwardly.

Kelith blinked in surprise at the rather bold comment Malys made to Asdrubael. He has never heard of anyone speak to the Archon in that tone of voice without a hint of fear.

Malys curled her left hand on Arcedia's right shoulder and gripped it, causing her to wince in slight pain. "This girl is _mine_ and by Isha's fallen name, I will tear any who you send to take her and feed on their anguish." She snarled in a deadly voice with the promise of untold pain. "That means you too Hierarch." She spoke to him quickly.

Widening his eyes at her announcement, he unconsciously took a step back from her. If there was one thing he had learned in his time of service with this Kabal was one simple but important rule: _do not ever provoke Malys_. The last Eldar who failed to listen to this, he was very certain all Kabalites in vicinity honestly felt sorry for that poor fool.

Asdrubael meanwhile calmly raised a hand to calm his mate down and leaned back on the throne with a heavy sigh. "Very well than, you can keep her but I will need you to give me something in order to appease Urien. I cannot lose his support just now when we are just reaching closer to our goal."

Malys growled at the answer but nonetheless accepted it. "I understand well my Archon. I will take my leave." Turning aside she walked to the end of the room and exited through the door with Arcedia following after her footsteps.

Waiting until the sound of a locking mechanism signaling the shutting of the door Asdrubael turned his Hierarch, "report Kelith!" He barked.

Shifting his feet to a more comfortable position, he looked into the eye of his Archon. "The human Agente has continued to be blessed with luck and has avoided our best ambush sites. We have already been forced to kill an entire squad along with the assassin. Chances are they are aware that they are not alone on this side of the world. The agent has succeeded in bringing a demigod with him and has probably linked up with the other one already by now."

Knotting his eyebrows together in deep thought of this new piece of information, he took a moment to think of the implications of his grand plan. "This revelation does not pose a direct threat to the main plan but might otherwise force us to accelerate our plans earlier than we may be comfortable with." He turned to face Kelith, "I have a feeling you have a way to deal with this, correct?"

"Yes but you may not like this one bit." He answered reluctantly. Asdrubael raised an eyebrow in question.

"I need the Soul-Trap device in tune with pain," he explained. "Along with the psychic beacon."

Taking a moment to piece the information together, his eyes narrowed at the information. "Have you finally gone mad Hierarch? Do you realize the risks of what you are requesting from me?"

"Without them, we would be unable to near the demigods without being torn apart and thrown in the Warp Archon." Hissed Kelith. "The Traitor's soul will be used as the focus point for our attack."

Silence between the two until Asdrubael rose from his throne and faced Kelith. "Bring out the artifact, use the soul and end the agent Hierarch."

"It will be done my Archon." He replied and bowed before swiftly exiting the room, leaving Asdrubael to sit back on his throne and gaze once more into the void.

* * *

"I cannot believe you _disobeyed_ me Victoria!" Bellowed Jonson as he lectured Primarchess Victoria on her behavior. "I specifically made it clear for you to _NOT_ follow me went I left for battle!"

"What did you want me to do Jonson?" Victoria shot back, "twiddle my thumbs while you and the rest of the guys get all the glory?"

"Yes! Something like that."

For the last ten minutes, the two Primarchs had been arguing with each other over trivial matters while their Spartans awkwardly stood aside. Occasionally, their little dispute would be overlapped with background gunfire as surviving ork mobs continued to prove resistant for the soldiers.

"Well, news flash Jonson, I'm not doing that!"

"Oh yes you will!"

"Make me then Mr-Tough-Ass-Guy!"

"Is that a challenge sis?" He demanded.

"What do you think?"

"Why I outa-" he started before a new voice cut him off.

"Both of you cut it out now!" Both Primarchs turned to see Magnus rushing through the entrance with his guard and multiple other humans lagging behind his superior speed. "This isn't the time to start fighting each other in a time like this! Oh, and by the way, what are you doing here Victoria?" Like Jonson, he too adopted a furious expression.

Throwing her arms into the air in frustration, she glared at her brothers, "What does it look like? I want to help you guys!"

"I'm pretty sure there a distinct difference between 'trying to help' and 'sneaking out under the guise of helping without permission' sis." Jonson pointed out.

"Maybe you wouldn't have needed to worry about it if you hadn't placed me under watch." She grumbled under her breath, which her brothers heard.

"Speaking of watching you. How did you manage to escape and evade the men I placed to keep an eye on you?" Demanded Jonson.

A devilishly smirk crossed her face. "Funny you should mention them..."

* * *

_Hundreds of light-years at Chemos_

"So we are all in agreement here." A spartan sergeant calmly spoke while slowly dangling on a chain wrapped around his chest and hanging upside down and stark naked. Around him in the room, many other Spartans were in different immobilized positions and like him, were naked. "Once we get out of here, we never breath a word or thought about this incident ever. We'll take this shame to the grave."

"Understood sir." They all responded in agreement.

* * *

_Back in Curwen_

"You had your Phoenix Guard seduce them didn't you?" Jonson accused Victoria.

"Why Jonny," she responded innocently with his nickname (which she gave him), drawing out a few chuckles from nearby Spartans. "What ever gave you the idea that I did something like that?"

"First of all, don't call me that. Secondly, this wouldn't be the first time you had your Spartans trick ours through _suggestive_ methods." He deadpanned.

"Ahem_._"

"Well...what other method would you have my girls do other than shooting them?"

"Ahem!"

"Anything that doesn't involve using hormones and pheromones as a distraction." He answered.

"AHEM!"

"Why? Don't want to admit they're very effective?" She asked while twirling one of her hair strands.

**"AHEM!"**

"What!" They both shouted at the speaker, none other than Agente Ravenor.

Clearing his throat, he spoke. "If I may interrupt, you may or may not recall my Primarch that we have a mission to do in this installation."

Holding in his gaze at the Agente, seconds ticked by before he sighed. "You are correct Ravenor, we do have a mission to see completed. But in the meantime..." He spoke while turning to face Magnus. "Brother, would you like to have the honors?"

Thinking for a moment, Magnus shrugged in response. "Sure, why not." Flicking his wrist, Victoria yelped in surprise as she felt herself lifted into the air and held.

"MAGNUS! Put me this down this instance!" She angrily demanded while squirming in a fruitlessly effort to break free.

"Sorry sis but that's not going to be happening anytime soon." He responded with a smirk behind his helmet. "Now be a good girl and stop struggling."

Victoria growled at his remark. "When I get down, I swear I'm going to kick your sorry ass so hard that your redneck face is going to pale in comparison when I'm done!"

"Sure it will." Retorted Magnus distantly as he forced open a large door and led everyone through with the exception of those staying back as a rearguard in the chamber.

Giving up at trying to break his hold over her, she turned to Jonson and gave him a pleading look. "Jonson, if you get me down from here, I promise I'll never disobey you in the future ever again."

"Let me see..." He said as he placed a hand on the helmet covering his chin and 'thought' it over. Hope glittered in her eyes at his seemingly consideration.

He immediately removed his hand and looked at his sister. "No."

Her jaws dropped in shock. "No?"

He nodded his head. "Like I said, no. It's not going to happen. Besides, I like your new position." He spoke with an uncontrolled grin splitting his face. "You're much more manageable in this state."

"UUGGGHH!" She screamed in frustration at the lack of common sense in her brothers. She looked at her trailing Phoenix Guard for help. "Carina. Help me here!"

The identified Carina nervously glanced at the glaring Primarchs and then at the rest of her brothers watching her through their faceless helmets before settling back to her Primarchess. "Sorry Victoria, but there's nothing I can do here to help."

Feeling nearly defeated, she turned to the Agente for rescue. Catching quickly what she wanted him to do, he raised his hands in denial. "Apologies my lady, but I'm simply a level delta pysker compared to Primarch Magnus's level alpha-divine strength. I'd simply be crushed to paste with just a lift of his eyebrow."

Groaning in defeat, she ended her struggling and accepted her current fate as Magnus continued to drag her through the ancient corridors.

**... ... ...**

Space Hulk _Grave of the Stars_

The Remembrance of Time screeched out incomprehensible words from the tome in its claws as energy seeped from the pages and condensed around it in a whirlwind of power. Immediately the combined attacks of the three Silent Guard's struck the barrier and deflected off the surface.

Not waiting for his weapon to return, Martin leaped for the wall to his left and ran across the surface while summoning the void in forms of shadows and lobbing them at the Greater Daemon. Runes and glyphs materialized before it and dispersed the attack before it could connect. Reacting quickly, the Remembrance pointed its left claw at him and spoke, _**"nshaari qel verjiaa zgote tyiish!"***_

The tome resting in its right claw shook and flipped several pages before opening wide and glowing in chaotic energy. Suddenly, the tip of its pointing claws became wreathed in the same energy and launched towards Martin at lightening speed.

Moving faster than he could avoid the energy slammed right next to him, causing the metal to warp under the power and sending him careening into the floor, forcing him to melt into the shadows.

Sensing its runes ringing warnings behind it, the Remembrance turned around and narrowly felt a blade slice through its metallic skin before a large concentration of dark energy exploded on its chest and sent it crashing through a wall. Before it could respond, the same energy erupted around it and slammed into its legs, pinning all eight limbs to the floor. Clicking its mandibles in frustration, it chanted twisted words from its wretched mouth as the dark wisps tightened around its limbs and new ones rose above it, taking the form of razor-sharp blades.

Just as the last word left its tongue, a kaleidoscope of colors exploded around it and blasted away the shadows imprisoning it.

Scuttling to its feet, it flinched as energy bolts struck its face and upper body repeatedly. Vincent marched steadily towards the daemon, firing his rifle at it even though his weapon barely scratched it's skin. But he still was having the desire effect, each bolt forced the daemon to retreat back for protection, preventing it from going on in the offensive.

Distracted, the Remembrance was too focused on the minion of darkness to notice the third guard until it felt a blade cleave through a limb. Screeching in pain, it swung at the direction of culprit but missed miserably once Henrico melted into the shadows. More pain exploded on its back as Martin plunged his glaive into its back and twisted the weapon.

Desperately to get the human off its back, it tried bringing two of its limbs behind to impale him but Vincent took advantage of its distraction to sprint forward and slice a second leg from body with his dark sword. Nearly collapsing to the floor from a lack of balance, the Remembrance hissed in anger as another dark energy beam slammed into its right side, cracking its shell and burning a hanging book.

_**"Enough play time! I tire of your games!"**_ Not waiting for an answer, a scroll hanging from its left hip glowed with bright runes and released a psychic scream.

Unprepared, the three Silent Guards gripped their heads in silent screams as chaos energy clashed with dark energy inside their bodies. The attack straining their minds beyond understanding of what they were experiencing. Clicking its mandibles in satisfaction, it raised its right claw, now glowing in a swirl of colors and slowly cut a tear through the fabric of reality. Blasts of exotic energy and particles erupted from the tear and flowed into the chamber seemingly passing through the humans who were now recovering from the ordeal without effect due to their will.

Noticing the three guards recovering faster than it had expected, it brought up its left claw and carefully drew a series of runes in the air before pushing them into the rift. Once the runes merged with it, the portal began constricting and stretching as hallowed screams sprouted from it. The screaming quickly rose to a high pitch before the portal spat out over a dozen eager Bloodletters.

_~Daemons! Servants of the Blood God!~_ Yelled Vincent as he turned his rifle to the new arrivals. _~Martin and Henrico, keep the Remembrance down! I'll deal with our new guests.~_ Switching his weapon to full auto, he fired a storm of dark energy at the fiends.

A bloodletter screamed as the projectiles tore through its ethereal form and its essence swallowed by the Void. Raging at the death of their comrade, the rest of the daemon band flew at the lone Silent Guard in a cacophony of animalistic snarls and frothing howls. Backing away slowly, Vincent kept calm as his rifle ripped another daemon apart before it ceased firing. Swearing at the timing, he checked the ammo reading and found to his dismay, empty.

Hearing a bloodthirsty roar above him, he quickly swung his empty rifle into the face of a charging Bloodletter, splintering the weapon and knocking the warp being aside. Spinning his dark sword in his right palm, he gripped the weapon with both hands and with a silent cry, clashed his blade with that of the nearest Bloodletter's Hellblade.

Jumping out of the shadows, Martin condensed dark matter around his glaive and slammed the weapon at the Remembrance. Flashes of light erupted as the dark blade rebounded off a shield protecting the greater daemon and blasted him away. Thrusting it left claw forward while hovering it's right over a scroll hanging on its hip, a spell began forming as symbols peeled from the surface of the lore and flew towards its raised limb. _**"Nazzera re culto skel rexqe vi'z ulg!"** **_

A beam of energy flung from its claw and speared through Martin's abdominal. The attack froze him for a brief moment before he collapsed in a convulsive state on the floor. Cracks in his armor formed as chaotic energy clashed with the dark energy inhabiting in his body in a fatal battle.

_~Martin is down!~_ Cried Henrico as he narrowly avoided a psychic blast that disintegrated the wall behind him. He twisted around to hurl his glaive at the Greater Daemon. As expected, a shield popped up but instead of deflecting, the weapon attached itself to the surface much to the Remembrance's own surprise before it exploded, tossing it through a wall with Henrico jumping right after it.

_~Emperor dammit!~_ shouted Vincent as he slid his blade underneath a Hellblade and bisected the Bloodletter in half and twirled around as another blade sliced a piece off his hood. He kicked his foot out behind him and connected with the chest of a daemon while swing his blade in a left arc, deflecting the incoming chaos blade with the flat edge of his dark sword. Quickly regaining balance, he swung his sword with both hands and parried the attack of a Bloodletter before performing a back-flip and narrowly felt the edge of a blade cleaning scratch the surface of his chest plate as he sailed over a daemon. Landing on the ground, he summoned a ball of dark energy and slammed it into the nearest Bloodletter, scorching its chest and careening into its fellows.

Slamming his boot on the floor, a small ring of runes carved into existence and glowed in pure energy. In a blink of the eye, a short blade taking the appearance of a hybrid between an axe and sword with a long, thick handle connected with a chain materialized from the thin air. An Axord weapon.

Reacting quickly, Vincent snatched snatched the weapon from the air with his left hand and collapsed the summoning circle. Upon gripping the handle, the chain immediately wrapped itself around his left arm and the edges of the blade glowed in emerald.

Giving his new weapon a few experimental swings, he drew back his arm and threw it at the horde. The chain that linked the weapon to his arm expanded at rate accomplished through arcane science as the blade easily tore through the essence of the first daemon as though it was no more than wet tissue.

Rushing at the Bloodletters he pulled his arm back, yanking the axord from the disappearing corpse to his hand while clipping the arm of another daemon in its path. Reaching the closest Bloodletter, he slid down as its Hellblade sliced the air above his head and lopped of its right leg in retaliation with his sword.

Howling in pain and surprise, the daemon collapsed to the floor but was quickly cut off from a downward strike with the axord, severing its head.

Summoning the Void, he launched into the air and threw the axord below, piercing the chest of a daemon before pulling himself towards it and beheading it with a sweep of his other blade. Jumping off his kill, he swung the axord with its chain expanded in a wide arc and entangled a Bloodletter in its grasp. Spinning around he intercepted a back strike from another daemon and used the momentum of the attack to sever the sword arm of another one flanking him. Tugging the chain with his left, the axord curved short and hacked the neck of the entrapped daemon and banished it.

Not wasting a second, he pulled the chain back and spun around in a half kneeling position, allowing the axord to rake the air and slice the one arm Bloodletter apart. Catching the handle of his weapon he performed a back-flip and landed two meters away from the surging Bloodletters. _~Is this the best the famed daemons of Khorne got to show me in combat? Even those of Slaanesh can fight better!~_ He taunted them.

The six remaining Bloodletters released howls of blood and rushed at the Silent Guard, intending to rip his guts out and spill his blood in the name of their god.

Before they could reach him, a barrier of black energy seeped up behind them and touched them. Agonizing screams left their tongues as the energy incinerated their ethereal skins, exposing their essence cores to be violently sucked out by the barrier and erased forever. Shadow Master Vincent had a moment to widen his eyes behind his helmet before the barrier reached him too.

Whipping past him, he felt it drain his energy in an instant and before he could understand what was happening, he found himself collapsed on the floor, desperately heaving for air.

Other world whispering and dark chanting filled his hearing as he weakly raised his head from the floor towards its origin. The sight of what he saw chilled his bones to their very core.

Martin stood in a kneeling position with his arms spread out as wisps of darkness slowly encircled him. The hole in his abdominal was glowing emerald of the darkest shade while his helmet had been ripped off, exposing his face to the outside world for the first time since he had taken the helm. His eyes had taken a black iris without any sign of his original color. His mouth stood opened and constantly moving in silence as dark words were spoken feverishly. Runes of summoning and binding surrounded him along with many others Vincent recognized as powerful ones.

It wasn't until his hearing became clearing did he finally understood the words Martin was speaking and his intent.

_~Do not do this Novelus!~_ He shouted to him. _~The process will kill you and damn your soul!~_

His words fell deaf on Martin's ears as he continued with the self-ritual. The sound of flesh being torn resonated from the hole in the wall as a body flew out and crumpled to the ground, revealing to be Novelus Henrico.

Thuds were heard as the Remembrance returned to the room covered in smoldering patches of skin with many of the lore hanging on its body reduced to burnt crisp and a severed leg.

Slowly in view of everyone, many of its wounds healed themselves as new layers of its metallic skin swept over the dead ones. It's legless limb suddenly spasm as a new leg grew out like a plant sprouting from the soil.

Walking over to the corpse of the fallen Silent Guard, it pierced the skull with a single claw finger and drew pulses from the head up to its arm. _**"You have fought valiantly but have otherwise doomed yourself. The price for damaging the lore of Lazori is..."**_ The Remembrance trailed off as it felt something off in the atmosphere before it sharply turned to face the lone Guard kneeling on the floor. _**"You..."**_

The last chant left the human as the shadows surrounding him condensed into a thick form and speared into his body.

And for the first time in nearly two hundred years, a scream tore through Martin's throat.

**... ... ...**

Major Carski frowned as he once more gazed the wasteland of what was once rich farmlands of Curwen before the fighting between the orks and the Imperium reduced it to a shadow.

For the last seventeen times, he had been viewing the region for any sign of incoming threats that would place them in peril yet none showed up in his view that did not involve bands of orks fighting each other. Yet his guts told him something dangerous was out there and he learned long ago in his military service that an Imperial officer did not ignore his instincts no matter how crazy it seemed.

"Still looking for the phantoms in the distance that you're convinced will kill us all?" Remarked Carski's second-in-command, Staff Major Benard in a jokingly manner.

"Benard." Carski growled in annoyance at the younger officer's brash attitude. "This isn't for a time of fooling around in moment like this. I am trying to do my duty here!"

"To look for enemies that don't really pose a threat to us." Pointed Bernard out. "The orks have fractured in groups too small to threaten us and the last HQ message has reported the Covenant packing up their bags and leaving this world post haste. Just what else on this planet can possible be a threat to us that we aren't aware of?"

A grim smile formed on the old veteran's face as he understood the logic in the younger man's argument. There had been no reports of unknown enemies in this world other than the case of an entire squad killed through unknown means but that had been quickly chalked by others as victims of a new Covenant Spec Ops weapon. If there were new players in the field, the sure as hell would have found them by now.

A deep sigh left Carski's lips as he deactivated the binocular view in his helmet. "I know what I seem to be saying but believe me when I say my guts are telling me something is-"

"Wait! Did you see that?" Benard interrupted Carski.

"See what?" He asked carefully.

Benard pointed behind him at the wasteland. "eight clicks to the north and three to the east. Right where that field of rocks is located at. I saw a glint of light there for a split second before I lost sight of it."

Looking back sharply to where Benard described, Carski could see the area where the supposed 'sight' occurred but again saw nothing to indicate something was there. However, the fact he saw a glint of light sent chills behind his back, for it meant the presence of metal alloys. which meant someone or something could be there.

Unable to find anything out of the ordinary, he turned back to his second-in-command. "Did you happen to notice anything out of the ordinary or-" His speech became cut off as Benard's eyes widened and he quickly pushed down Carski to the ground.

Milliseconds passed in the action before Carski heard tiny objects cut through the air followed by the sickening sound of armor and flesh pierced multiple times. Collapsing to the ground, he watched in silent shock as the corpse of his former subordinate fell to the ground covered in countless shards of splintered crystals.

Rapidly turning to face the direction he spied a viridian light in the sky, unfolding and spiraling outwards with green flames licking the surroundings in a circle. "TO BATTLE ME-" he shouted out to his men in the vox-link before the light exploded in a loud crack and compressed into a multi-dimensional gate.

Before his eyes, dozens of bladed hover skimmers swept out from the gate and dove towards the Imperial position. Lances of energy flew from the prow of the crafts and struck men and machine alike as their shields broke under the power and vaporized. Screams of pain escaped the throats of men as more weapons erupted from the skimmers and cut them down in the most horrific manner known to them.

Roaring in anger at the fate his men were suffering from, Carski ripped his bolt pistol from its holster and fired at any skimmers in his view as he ran towards his men. He succeeded in reaching the first of his men before a skimmer whipped close to him faster than he could see and felt a stinging sensation in his torso. Shaking off the feeling, he tried to take a step, but found his legs unresponsive. In silent horror, he watched his upper half of the body separate from his waist to reveal he had been cleanly sliced in half without realizing it. He was able able to quickly catch the glimpse of a human corpse hitting the ground with the visor shattered and crystalline shards sticking out before darkness claimed him.

Having been taken by surprise, the Imperial defenders had lost most of their machines and suffered grievous losses in the opening sequences of the battle. Confusion filled their vox-links as defense lines crumbled under the onslaught and squads were wiped out with terrifying weapons from unknown enemies. But despite the fact they had been taken completely off guard, that they had no idea what was going on, and that they lost their war machines and heavy weapons in the first strikes, the Imperial military was anything but pushovers.

The Spartans of the First Legion were the first ones to recover from their shock quickly and began laying down murderous fire at any skimmer that dared swing too close to avoid retribution. Seconds ticked in the battle as more men returned fire at their mysterious attackers succeeding in disabling two of them and damaging a further six from the fight.

In a quick succession, most of the skimmers swung over their heads and dropped countless humanoid figures into their midst. Confusion and panic struck most of the defenders as these humanoids striked with lethal precision and speed that they could not match. Blades swinging faster than their eyes could follow and weapons that punctured their shields and suits and delivered unimaginable agony into their nerves.

Only the Spartans of Caliban stood their ground in the fight, relentlessly matching the speed of their enemy and precision with devastating effect as their shields and armor fared with better success compared to their Ground Force counterparts. Chainswords and power swords fell on those that dared face them head-on while bolt rifle and plasma guns raked those who felt indemnity from their wrath at a distance. Skimmers swooped in every moment to lay devastating fire into their lines in hopes of scattering them but each time the Spartans would dodge the attack and reform their lines in quick succession. Each time a spartan fell from either a lucky strike from an enemy blade or the guns of a skimmer, his comrades would fight with greater rage to drive off any present opponents to recover his body to extract his gene-seed.

Despite the determination of the defenders, the enemy had them hanging on their last legs and they had suffered to many losses to necessarily hold the entrance forever. Both side knew it was only a matter of time before the Humans could no longer continue fighting. Communicating through the neural-link, the defenders hatched a desperate plan to save their remaining numbers and retreat into the ancient installation.

Three seconds passed before a break in the enemy's attack was spotted and in an instant, four Spartans and forty soldiers, all volunteers rushed forward into the enemy sprouting fire of boundless fury. Immediately, much of the enemy's attention is diverted to those suicidal driven Humans and the remaining survivors used the precious seconds to execute an organized retreat into the entrance just as the last volunteer quickly falls to a poison blade.

Before all can enter in, their mysterious attackers struck behind them with cold precision resulting in more humans dying horrifically until the last one reaches safety in the abandoned hallways of their ancestors. Behind them, the inhuman howls of rage over the loss of their prey could be heard from the attackers as the survivors marched deeper to find their fellows and warn them in time.

The defenders once numbered proudly in nearly seventeen thousand before arriving and reduced to less than fifteen thousand soldiers by orks and over thirty Spartans. Now, a paltry three hundred soldiers and eighteen Spartans survived the brutal assault that left most of their comrades dead and their backs exposed with the shaking revelation of a new faction has entered the field.

**[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]**

Kelith howled in anger at his failure and proceeded to mutilate any corpse close to vent it. All the other Dark Eldar stood back in fear that they would become the target of his frustration if they interrupted him as he tore the human bodies in the most horrific manner he could think of in his current state.

Half-a-minute passed before Kelith calmed down that his Dracons could approach safely. He was decked in his old Incubus armor of his once Shrine of Howling Death before it faced annihilation under mysterious means, leaving him as one of the very few survivors left alive of the former shrine. The only difference his had with the traditional armor was the lack of the shoulder blades and the presence of the Black Heart sigil. In both of his hands that were now dripping in blood, were Demi-Klaives also coated in blood and flesh.

Just as the nearest Dracon approached him, Kelith violently gripped the Dark Eldar's throat and pulled him towards his face. "Eliminate the surviving filth and purge any others who witness this before the target is alerted! NOW OR I WILL FEAST ON YOUR SOUL!" He roared and threw subordinate to the ground.

Scrambling to his feet, the Dracon barked orders to his Kabalites and quickly filed into the installation.

Turning back to face the rest of the Kabal force under his command, a sinister smile formed under his helmet. "The rest of you, we have have a human to hunt!" Savage cries erupted from their ranks as he thrusted his Demi-Klaive in the air, the blade still dripping in human blood and coated with torn skin.

**[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]**

A Darkwing Spartan carefully finished placing the last charges of C-18 on a thick door before stepping back several meters away and looked back at another Spartan whom nodded in confirmation.

Withdrawing a detonator from one of his pouches in his mag-belt, he held a it steady in his hands. "Detonating now!"

Pressing the activation mode, a loud explosion splits the air as the hallways vibrate from the concussion. Seconds later, the door gives a deep echoing groan before collapsing to the floor with a colossal sound, throwing up a cloud of dust.

Immediately, a squad of Spartans rush through and fan out everywhere for hostile hideouts in the room. Not finding any threats, the Sergeant of the squad raises his left hand and waves his palm downwards three times from the entrance.

Silently, Jonson leads his guards inside the room with Magnus walking right behind him with Victoria still floating in his psychic hold followed by their own guards and the Agente's group.

Stopping in the middle of the room, Ravenor takes a moment to observe the room showcasing ancient projectors and controls along with countless machines of unknown status, "incredible..." He breathed out in awe of what he was in the presence of.

"Agente Ravenor. The codes." Called out an accent voice.

Breaking out of his daydream, he saw Techmarine Kat patiently waiting next to a series of data ports and controls, her servos twitching in anticipation.

"R-right, the codes." Ravenor fumbled over the words as he strode over to where Kat stood and brought close his wrist to one of the data ports. "Merrick, transfer the codes into the network now."

_"Already done Ravenor."_ The AI replied as blue sparks emitted from his wrist and flowed into the port before ceasing. Seconds past until luminescence blue lights raced from the port across the controls and the room rapidly in symmetrical patterns. As each light touched an old machine, a spark would pulse in its core and a light humming would then indicate the reawakening of the device.

The occupants watched in wonderment as they observed the lights race across the room like cracks forming on an old marble surface rapidly. Deep rumbling shifted the room as sections of the room glided off the floor and rearranged themselves to their once pristine forms, machines whined in an intensive tone as they roused once more after millennium of inactivity.

Techmarines cried in joy as cogitators lit up with countless panels of cutting edge technology of hard light and large projectors of light filled the walls and air as endless data streamed through the screen. Men watched the streams of light continue traveling across the walls until ending at both sides at the only entrance/exit in this room. Pausing briefly at the edge, it quickly pushed on and worked in reawakening the hallways and more of chambers in the installation until it disappeared from sight.

"Merrick..." Ravenor breathed out from his awed mouth, "begin sifting through all data for the location of the files."

_"Already on it sir."_ Merrick replied as he began working on the ancient files. _"Oohhh, you would not believe the size and extension of the network heart in this facility. Tangent wasn't kidding when he said this place was a military warehouse in the past. In the short time I've been in here, I just avoided over a hundred Trojan horses, forty virus traps, and twelve hidden eraser programs. This is amazing! And that's not counting the two heavy plasma turrets aiming at the data core as a backup plan or the antimatter bomb placed under this room as an extra-contingency plan."_

Everyone sharply jumped back and stared at the floor in alarm at the casual announcement of a hidden bomb under their feet.

"Will this...bomb.." spoke Jonson carefully, "pose a direct threat to our safety AI?"

_"Pfft, nope. Not unless we had tried to access the hub without the use of protocols or codes. Lucky for us, we have the official ones. Aha! Found the files!"_

"You have?" Ravenor asked in surprise. "That was quite fast of you."

_"I'm offended you had little faith in my abilities to shift this quantum network. I'm a Consocius class AI for Omnissiah's sake here, not some Intendent class! What do I look like to you?"_

"Just get the files." retorted Ravenor.

_"Fine fine. I'll start on it-wait do you feel that?"_

"Feel what exactly?" Questioned Magnus. His question is immediately answered with a slight vibration coupled with a distant explosion.

_"That."_ Responded Merrick.

**... ... ...**

A soldier falls on his back with most of his upper chest burnt away, revealing his cooked insides. Around the corpse, several soldiers and a Spartan slowly move back while lighting the corridor with laser and plasma bolts.

"Keep up the fire men!" Roared the Spartan as his plasma rifle continued spewing bolts of ionized heat gas towards the end of of the hallway. "We must delay these xenos from reaching the Primarchs until they are warned!" He growls as a lance of heat strikes in the chest, taking out his shield completely.

Next to him, a man releases a gurgled scream as thin webs rapidly wrap around him and slice through the exposed parts of the armor and collapses. Another soldier screams in agony as his visor is penetrated by crystalline shards and starts convulsing on the floor in ways not physically possible.

Seeing gleams of metal, he raise his left arm in time to feel several thin blades pierce the armor and skin in quick succession before losing all nerve senses in his limb. To his horror, his sensors report his arm dead as the limb falls uselessly to his side.

His frustration deepens once his weapon is empty of ammunition and tosses the rifle aside, instead pulling out his laspistol from his thigh. Quickly firing back at the unknowns, he sees two missiles rushing at their position and opens his mouth to warn the others but the small warheads reach them first.

The first missiles detonates its core in their midst, completely sucking out their warmth from their bodies regardless of their protection, reducing their bodies to brittle statues trapped in agony. The next missile explodes an instant second later after the first one, releasing a blast of percussive force that completely shatters its frozen victims to countless pieces in their armor prisons and shaking the corridors to their very foundations.

**... ... ...**

Silence filled the room as everyone warily watched the entrance after hearing the distant sounds of explosions. Hands were steadily held next to holstered weapons and sensors were cranked up to their maximum distance and visual optical feeds.

"Azrael...Luther, check the neural-links and vox-links _now_." Jonson spoke in a firm voice. "Magnus, check the current status of the Warp in this area."

All three men slowly took their eyes of the entrance and did as they were asked off. Jonson didn't need to wait longer for news to come in."

"My Primarch, the neural network is not registering anyone else in this place other than those present in this room." Informed Azrael to Jonson. "It's like they simply ceased to exist."

"Vox communications are down with no present signals in the air." Announced Luther. "All I'm getting is static and other signs pointing towards jamming technology I don't recognize."

Silently, Magnus stepped closer to Jonson and linked his mind together with his. _~The warp is behaving erratically in this structure, it is as though something is attempting to draw in the currents to itself. And it's heading this way~_

_~What of any life signs?~_ Asked Jonson. _~Surely there must be someone else in this installation alive?~_

_~That I cannot say brother. The warp is reacting violently to this nexus point and that is blurring my psychic vision. Whatever is powering this device or anomaly, it can only be deactivated manually~_

_~Keep me updated on its status once it gets closer~_ Spoke Jonson in his mind before severing the link and returning his attention to the entrance. "Agente, I'm going to need your AI to sweep this installation for any life signatures if the scanning equipment are functioning."

"_Please, the scanners are only going to function will be if I access the software's and programs controlling the reactors and backup generators that are still in operation status."_

"Then what are you waiting for?" Ravenor demanded. "Activate the generators!"

"_Okay okay, sheesh! I was just doing it…what the hell?!" _

"What? What's happening?"

"_The entire network is going haywire! I'm losing grip on most of the handshake programs connecting me to the main mainframe and the firewalls are now actively suppressing everything that is corrupted or unknown! It's like something is….by Omnissah!" _

"By Uhtheüs! Merrick, what is going on?!"

"_I'm being locked out of the system by an unknown program! It has hardwired itself through most of the mainframe's core and is binding most of the power nodes into a single digital OTN method!"_

"Can you stop it?" Asked Azrael from his place as he roughly pointed his head towards the main controls, indicating the rest techmarines in the room to assist the AI.

"_I can't!"_ Responded Merrick in panic. _"Whatever's doing this is far more powerful than I am. It already rewrote many of the protocols and security responders in trapping me out of most of the system. It's taking me all of my data processing to hold on the last shred of control on the network...oh no…"_

"What's happening Merrick!" Asked Kat demandingly as she fruitlessly manipulated the controls.

"_It's diverting all available power through the nodes towards an unknown destination. It's like it's trying to activate something massive…" _Immediately Merrick began sprouting curses in binary.

"What…?"

"_A __**warship**__! The unknown is trying to raise a frakking warship from its slumber with the installation's power grid!"_

Ravenor rushed to the controls and pushed aside Kat. "What class Merrick?" He demanded.

"_Omnissah's hatred, an accursed Forerunner dreadnought!" _

**… … …**

Curwen's orbit

"Star Admiral! Long-range auspex sensors are detecting high energy readings leveling to that of a newborn star in the northern hemisphere of the planet!" Announced an ensign from his monitor.

Looking up from his hololith, Donavich carried a look of surprise under his naval hat at the information. "Where?"

Rapidly pressing symbols on the holo-screen of his monitor, the ensign gently flicked something in the screen to his left and caused a larger holovid to appear in view of the star admiral detailing the region of the anomaly.

"The anomaly is occurring over eighty kilometers from the ancient structure under the Howl Plains sir."

"That's rather too close to the Primarch's positions. Hail their voxes and inform them of this new information." Ordered Donavich.

A communication officer nodded and turned to his subordinate who pressed several keys and activated the vox relay. "First and Fifteen Legions, this is _Pillar of Light_ calling in for status update. Do you copy?"

Static was the only sound the operator could hear as he frowned and dialed the relay once more, "First and Fifteen Legions, this is _Pillar of Light_ calling in for status update. Do you copy?" Static once again filled the channel.

"Try the regiment stationed at the entrance. Perhaps they have a clear signal" The officer urged in a worried tone.

"Second Jericho Regiment two-four-one-five, this is _Pillar of Light_ calling in. Do you copy?" Worry crossed their faces as static filled the channel instead. "Second Jericho Regiment two-four-one-five, this is _Pillar of Light_ calling in. Can you read me?" Static was their only response.

The officer turned from his task back to the waiting star admiral. "Sir, their vox communicators are not responding to any of our hails nor are they transmitting in any frequency. We aren't catching any of their signals!"

Donavich pondered the news he had received and came to a conclusion. "Send new orders to Lord General Alexander: have him send his best units to the ancient installation and have them geared for the unknown ASAP! I want to know what is going on down there."

"Star admiral!" Cried an ensign in a panicking voice. "Tectonic energy readings are spiking at increasingly high levels at the anomaly's position! Something large is breaking through the surface!"

"Give me a visual now!"

The large screen in front of him quickly switched to a vision of a camera as the bridge silently watched the surface slowly fragmented like a glass shattering in slow motion vid as cracks as large as the _Pillar of Light_ opened up the earth to the air. In the center of this catastrophe, the land shook the most violently in a broken circle measuring over thirty kilometers in circumference. The anomaly lasted for several agonizing minutes before the center immediately exploded upwards like a geyser. Thousands of megagrams of earth was thrown hundreds of meters into the air as a massive mass of metal broke through the surface of the land and reached into the air.

**[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]**

Breaking through the surface, the ship slowly gathered speed as its hull carefully reassembled around to remove any remains of earth still attached to the surface or inside. Its silver-grey shade glistening in reflection of the light.

Rushing through the atmosphere, the ship started synchronizing its ancient protocols as entire armor plates shifted into different places and new sections were formed as the previous shape of the ship slowly morphed into a suitable geometrical design for void travel.

Three large arms broke free of their docking clamps and began floating around the ship with one above horizontally and two at the sides vertically as large orbs in their chassis sparked into bright balls of red energy. Across the main body, crafted patterns of luminance red lights raced across the surface as the design of the ship change drastically with new sections assembling out of pure matter and old ones disappearing in shards of energy. Hangers and ship bays were created in the interior of the hull and docking hatches were erected on the surface. Hull frameworks shifted downwards in the rear and formed a massive armored tail-like shape set in a fifty-five degree angle towards the stern.

The main body of the ship continued shifting its shape as a thick tower connected by four semi-triangular structural arms around it as the hull slowly finished shifting into a narrow arrow-head body over thirty kilometers in length and twenty-four in height coupled with a width of sixteen. Under the main hull a thick rectangular section of eight kilometers and twenty-two in length hung underneath with the tail jutting out at a length of twenty-two with its thickest at nineteen and its thinnest at five. At the top and positioned at the rearmost, the tower stood at sixteen in height with its base thickening at eleven and the top only at nine-hundred meters. Each of the four skeleton arms connecting to the tower stood over twelve kilometers in height and widened at five.

The three teardrop structures floating next to the ship each stood well over fifteen kilometers in height with the lengths measuring seven and the width at five. A secondary arm two-thirds smaller hung separately at a polar position at each end giving the appearance of a pincer of a decapod crustacean from the old oceans of Terra.

Deep canyons crafted into its hulls that ranged from several meters to ten kilometers housed entire weapon batteries, hangers, ports, and countless other mechanisms for endless reasons.

Finally, pushing its thrusters to a higher velocity, the Forerunner dreadnought broke through the gravity well of Curwen and exited the thermosphere in view of the Imperial fleet awaiting its appearance and stopped motionless.

**[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]**

**Star Cluster Kyekna **

**Star System Zav Uger**

**CVO-Assault carrier **_**Hunter of Stars**_

**Eon of the Covenant-14****th**** Age of Conflict-Period of Unrest**

Fleetmaster Gur 'Navree stared at the hologram projecting in the center of his bridge as the details of the new ship became clear to the silent crew and growled under his breath.

"The oath-breakers have returned…"

**[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]**

**System Nova Prime**

**N/A.M36**

Archon Vect stood watching with his hands clasped behind his back in his throne room as the ship rose from the planet's meager atmosphere and faced the Human fleet. His face remained expressionless but his eyes were carefully detailing everything he saw and his mind pondering over the ramifications of this old player's appearance and the repercussions its presence could cause.

A player that had not stretched its muscles in over one hundred thousand years.

**[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]**

**Infinite-Battleship **_**Pillar of Light**_

"Sir, scanners are unable to decently detail the structural components of its hull or scan underneath the armor plating. Whatever material it's made of, we can't any accurate readings!"

Donavich gently waved his hand across the screen and the visual zoomed into the unknown ship as it finally exited the thermosphere and into the void. Without the atmosphere, he could now see the new contact in much a better view.

"Full power to the shields and calibrate the weapons on it. Hail that ship and order it to power dow-"

The unknown cut him off as massive tangelo-hued beams swept through his ship and others in the fleet without any signs of damage. Just as quickly as these beams appeared, the unknown ship retracted them back without moving from its position.

Minutes ticked by as everyone stood gripped in their places in surprise at the awe display of technology before the silence was broken.

"ADMIRAL! Energy readings on the unknown ship are swiftly rising! It's fir-"

Whatever the officer was going to say to Donavich was quickly lost as the ship instantly fired three massive phase beams from the prow at the Imperials and swept it across their lines. Countless escorts were immediately pulverized upon full contact from the sheer power of the weapons and dozens of capitol ships were quickly sundered into halves.

Donavich and several other crewman are thrown of their footing when the _Pillar of Light_ is grazed by one of the beams, causing the ship to lurch violently to the side. Alarms ring throughout the bridge as monitors flash warnings and alerts of the ship's condition. Men frantically push themselves off the floor and back into their seat to rapidly address their plight.

Donavich was assisted by his second-in-command to his feet but he angrily pushed him away and marched to his hololith and screamed into the neural-link, _"All functioning Imperial ships, bring that ship DOWN!"_

**… … …**

Control chamber of Installation

Kat desperately tried working across the controls as efficient as possible to shut down the power grid but her success rating was showing as the lights in the room were dimming and the numerous machines in the room shutting down. "C'mon, _c'mon_."

"_Enough techmarines Kat! It's too late now, the ship had taken off into orbit. There's nothing left to do."_ Merrick stated in a dismal tone.

Groaning in utter defeat, she slammed her fists on the panel, denting the cover. Similar actions were done by the rest of the techmarines next to her as they were told the same thing.

Ravenor looked worriedly at the monitor, "Merrick, were you able to retrieve the files?"

"…_Yes I was able to. The same however cannot be said for many of the other files stored in this database." _

"Well, now that we got what we came here for, can you _now_ put me down Magnus?" Complained Victoria as she struggled to get a footing on the floor.

His response to her was placing her further up in air. Moaning in frustration at his lack of attention, she grumbled, "I'll take that as a no…"

Smiling under his helmet, he took a step forward before he seizes up in shock once something brushes his mind. Victoria, who had been silently counting runes on her brother's armor saw him freeze immediately in a recognizable posture and her grumbling expression swiftly switched to that of a terrified face. "Jonson…" she spoke fearfully.

Alarmed from her tone, he spun towards her direction with the Lion Sword fully extended in his hand and sees Magnus's posture. Already his Scarab Occult guard were spreading out and carefully carving vital runes on the floor with special tools once they saw their Primarch's action.

What they didn't expect was for their Primarch to snap out of his daze quickly and slam his Nemesis staff Soul Watcher into the ground. "It is here!" he shouted.

Immediately, the Spartan's nearest to the entrance were blown away from an explosion as a large hole is made where the door once stood. The rest reacted with disciplined movement and fired their weapons into the smoke-filled corridor, causing inhuman roars of agony.

Rushing out of the smoke were _large_, _horrendously_, _most disgusting_, _wrenching_, _misshapen_, _deformed_ _creatures_ with no skin whatsoever any _unfortunate_ Human has to ever witness. Howling with whatever stricken lungs they have in their twisted bodies, they bowl over or smash aside any Spartan in their pathway, forcing most others to concentrate their fire on these _things_.

The result of this action caused humanoid beings to rush into the chamber and strike the nearest surprised Spartans. A few Spartans collapse gargling in a slow death when an Occult thrusts his Nemesis forward, releasing bolts of lightning that fry many of the humanoids and allows his furthest brothers to fall back to defensible positions.

His attack quickly ceases as he seizes up in surprise with several blades protruding into his chest and collapses as his nerve system is melted, allowing more humanoids to rush into the room and suppress any pyskers they see.

Dropping Victoria to the ground so she could fight, Magnus swings his nemesis, cutting down two enemies at once and crushing several others with his mind. Noticing a large number of them surrounding him, he muttered several incantations and lifted his tool. "Get help sis."

"Wait what?" She managed to ask before Magnus slammed his Soul Watcher in the floor, causing a flurry of warp energies to sprout out and envelope Victoria and her Phoenix Guard and spirited them away.

**… … …**

Forty-one kilometers West from Installation

Victoria shrieked in surprise as the earth greeted her face rapidly and crashed into the ground. Around her, the Phoenix members appeared in flashes and connected into the ground once gravity took over.

Sputtering dirt from her mouth and standing up, she could see the ancient structure looming in the distance. At first, relief coursed through her body, then worry before replaced with unparalleled fury.

"MAGNUS! I AM GOING TO TELL ON YOU TO LEMAN AND THEN I AM GOING TO BURN YOUR FAVORITE BOOKS! YOU HEAR ME?! **BURN THEM!**"

**… … …**

Control chamber of Installation

"She took that rather well." muttered Magnus as he cleaved one of the _things_ and shredded their remains with a swipe of his hands. Feeling something entering the room, spun around towards the entrance and paused.

At the entrance, stood a scarred human draped in tattered robes and holding a strange jeweled xeno skull in his hands. The human slowly placed a device on the skull and pressed a button. Sensing the device give off a specific set of psychic signals and feeling what was in the skull, Magnus realizes in sudden horror what the human was doing.

"DON'!" he shouts and fires a bolt of lightning at the human. The bolt traverses the distances in a fraction of a second and shatters the skull and burns the human, but in that fraction of a second, the device activates in full power and the skull releases a tormented scream. The warp surrounding the nexus point immediately converges into the spot, forcing a semi-rift into existence.

The rift causes many of the Spartans grip their helmets in pain while the humanoids remained unaffected and uncaringly attack their distracted opponents.

Magnus knew there was one option he could use to help the Spartan's recover and save this world from the raw touch of the Immaterium: he had to cut it off from the inside.

"I'm going in brother!" And with that, Magnus used the warp to propel himself close to the rift and enter it.

* * *

**Unknown Location (Formless Wastes)**

**Unknown Time**

Carefully opening his eyes, Magnus was presented with the view of a large landmass floating in the currents of the Immaterium and where he could feel the rift drawing it power. Around him, currents of endless colors whirled everywhere and in every direction, shifting small landmasses and shattering them while the larger ones stood immobile but their surfaces were constantly torn and changed into new ones. He could see countless daemonic Furies flying with the currents, their tormented howls traveling across the Waste as they searched for weaker prey to vent their wrath upon.

Manipulating the currents through his psychic might, he hurled himself towards the large landmass and constantly changed course whenever a new current would flow in his path or the old one would vanish. Magnus had to occasionally fire a bolt of fire at any Fury that dared near him or force the currents to the side to avoid colliding with a floating rock.

Finally reach the landmass, he crashes into the ground as it cracks and warps under his feet and grimly saw what was supporting the rift.

Moaning in an ecstasy of pleasure as it fed on the imprisoned skull soul, a Keeper of Secrets, Greater Daemons and servants of the Dark Prince stood in the center of the landmass, it stopped what is was doing and looked upon Magnus. It licked its razor-thin teeth with its forked tongue and hungrily stared at him.

Holding his Nemesis steady with both hands he glared hatefully at the daemon. "Of all daemons I had to meet here, I had to face this vile, horny spawn." He muttered under his breath.

The daemon screamed loudly in joy and launched itself at him with a long blade swing widely and its two lower pincers clacking in anticipation. Magnus yelled a cry and rushed towards the Keeper of Secrets, his staff emitting torrents of energy as both weapons clashed together ferociously.

* * *

**And that's for the day guys.**

**Now lets settle with the reviews:**

**MEleeSmasher: yeah that would indeed be awesome, too bad the Dark Eldar are masters of ambushing.**

**OMAC001: yes, there is indeed more than four chaos gods in this universe. with thousands of species fueling the warp and countless ranges of emotions that even we humans don't experience at all, there's bound to be more than one.**

** SPARTAN-626: Thanks for the support, I'm really proud of that scene and hope to write more of that in future chapters and stories. Your are correct with the Legion (hint: the Legion with two)**

**Guest: I apologize if I didn't explain it properly, there is indeed manual labor (its good for employment and fitness), its just that the shitty or unwanted ones are rather held by servitors instead. And whenever the Imperium integrates a new world into their fold, they slowly start introducing them to the technological wonders that can take many decades or sometimes centuries to accept. The Imperium will soon start exploring outside their own galaxy, but WILL start with Milky Way's (Galaxia serves as the universal name, each species calls our galaxy by a different name) satellite galaxies. Several franchise will make an appearance or mentioned in this story but would otherwise have no significant importance in the universe unless a side-story is made by me or someone with my permission (and oversight). **

**Now that reviews are...seriously? Only five reviews were posted for last chapter? Is my story is so good that there's no need for correction (if so I'm flattered) or is that you can't? **

**Like and Favorite guys! **

**And Reviews guys for me and my stories!**

**Will Ravenor survive the assassination attempt by the Dark Eldar on him along with Primarch Jonson? How will the fleet fare against the resurrected faction long believed dead to the galaxy? Will Victoria actually burn the books? Will Magnus succeed in defeating the Keeper of Secrets without causing it to orgasm in pain?**

**Find out next time in Galaxia's Wars!**

**Semper conscii sint omnia.**


	14. Chapter XIV

**Rated M for obvious reasons-that-I-don't-feel-like-telling-you-what-they-are!**

* * *

**A feel of Destruction**

_Victory? What use is a victory? Let me have a battle of annihilation. _

_-Fleet Admiral Drussos_

* * *

**Unknown Location in Formless Waste**

**Unknown Time**

Magnus swept under the daemon's weapon and cracked the bottom of the Nemesis at its right side of the face. The blow sent the Keeper of Secrets spinning widely with throes of sensations pounding in its skull.

"Feel the power of a Primarch!" he shouted, slamming the tip of the staff into its chest and creating a powerful telekinesis shock wave, sending the daemon shattering through the landscape and reducing them to dust.

Immediately, he began feeling thoughts of pleasure and desires invade his mind as an otherworldly presence oozed over his own. Gritting his teeth, he threw up barriers through powerful memories as anchors and silently recited litanies his father taught him to keep peace in his heart.

A loud shriek cuts through the air and blows aside the dust, revealing the Keeper standing unscathed in a long gorge. Surrounding it were swarms of Daemonettes all skittering and twitching in anticipation of a delightful hunt. Thrusting its twisted sword forward in a howl of euphoria, all the lesser daemons leaped in an orgy of ecstasy at Magnus to feel the sensation of ripping his bones in fragments and carving his skin with their claws.

The small golden eagle statue glowed in light as Magnus struck the cursed earth, causing several spears of twisted stone and metal to sprout from the surface and pierce any fortunate Daemonette. Cries of agonizing pleasure left the throats of these daemons as they indulged themselves deeper into these spears for greater satisfaction, their bodies jerking and quivering in relief.

Others reached Magnus as wave of warp fire suddenly greeted them and seared their exposed skins as their nerves exploded in pure bliss from the intensity of the heat eating away their flesh.

Spinning the staff and shutting off the flow of fire, he shifted his stance and swung his staff to his left, crushing two Daemonettes and squeezing the head of another. Moving quickly, he lifts his staff above him and releases bolts of charged energy as multiple Daemonettes shrieked in surprise glee at the feeling of electrical shock coursing through their bodies and frying it.

He swung around and thrusted the Nemesis forward, displacing the air to his left and crushing several Daemonettes in the zone to unrecognizable flesh blobs as they were compressed.

Leveling his staff at more targets, a spell formed in his lips but became cut off with the sudden feeling of several Daemonettes weighing on his back and whispering crud words of promises and sensations beyond any mortal's imagination while happily cutting away his shields to expose him. He reacted with a swing of his staff to his back to effectively crush them to paste, but a trio of others clung to his to arm and dragged it down. Cursing in several tongues as he tried to stay balanced from the unwanted weight, he felt more Daemonettes cling to his other arm and his body, their forms writhing across his armor and their claws raking in hopes of reaching his soul. Not to mention messing with his psychic link.

One Daemonette leaped into his face and tried clawing into his exposed neck joint but failed to pierce the synskin protecting him under the armor. It instead shoved its chest forward into his face, entrapping his head in between the fold of its four alien breasts with each one wiggling itself seductively. Ignoring the scene playing in front of his face and the suit's sensors reporting the nerve nodes feeling the other Daemonettes clinging to him performing ranges of pleasure such as one using the spikes of his right shoulder pauldron to pierce its stomach and aggressively shifted its body around while another eagerly chewed and clawed on his codpiece.

Snorting in frustration, he raised the power output of his armor, the mini-fusion reactor humming in higher frequency as he desperately tried to raise his right arm holding the staff, his psychic link muddled with the presence of the Keeper of Secrets. Noticing his action, more Daemonettes jumped unto his arm to hold it down but Magnus determinedly continued raising the staff until with a final cry of defiance, he broke his arm free into the air. "I will not be taken by the likes of you!"

Immediately the eagle quickly surrounded itself in a sphere of golden light and exploded outwardly, vaporizing outright the closest Daemonettes and burning away the furthest across the landmass. He sighed in relief at the empty weight on his armor.

His relief is cut short when the Keeper of Secrets immediately rams on top of him and stabs his head. He quickly dodges the sword and smashes the bestial daemonic face with his left gauntlet. Without warning, the three large breasts hanging on its chest start twitching from a spell as they rippled in effect and shifted.

"What the…?" he flinches back in shock and disgust as all three nipples of the Keeper of Secrets abruptly open up to reveal mouths filled with razor-sharp teeth eagerly snapping at his face. Biting his lips in concentration, he summons a golden form of the Imperial Aquila between the daemon and himself. An explosion of light and energy erupts as the daemon is throw high into the currents before Magnus grasps it in his psychic grip and violently slamming it deeply into the landmass, creating a crater over twenty meters long with several deep fissures running doubled the length from the hit point.

Picking himself from the ground while absently checking currents for any Furies thinking him for a weak prey, he's pleased once noticing they're circling over the deep crater where he threw the Keeper of Secrets instead of him or carrying off any surviving Daemonettes. His smile however turns to a frown once realizing that he could still feel the presence of the Greater Daemon twisting around his mind.

An elated cry in a disgusting language catches his attention and sends the Furies in the air screeching in shock and fleeing for safety. From the crater, the Keeper of Secrets clawed its way out with its form marred and mangled from the devastating crash he gave it while drooling over the multiple sensations it was receiving.

Stabbing its sword into the earth, it heaved its chest back and released a powerful sonic scream at Magnus that reminded him of splitting glass and scrapping steel. He reacts rapidly with a force dome to deflect the attack as everything touched by the sound is instantly shattered to pieces, transforming the landscape of the landmass to that of barren.

Digging his boots down, he poured more energy into the barrier as he felt the ground shacking and… rumbling?

He looks down in alarm to see the ground in fact shacking violently and breaking apart. The pressure on his barrier is loosened as the Greater Daemon also notices the phenomenon and screams a perilous cry.

The ground beneath the Keeper of Secrets suddenly erupts as a monstrous mass of flesh and chitin sends the daemon screaming into the air and presents Magnus a view of the new guest.

Rearing at a height taller than a Titan Chassis and longer than a Heavy Frigate, the monster took the appearance of a hybrid between the Terran Amazonian centipede and the Terran Hydrothermal worm in the most horrifying way. Rippling across the skin were rugged plates of thick, sickly grey chitin moving flexibly whenever it twisted its body and slightly exposing the pale skin underneath the armor. Sticking from the sides of the body were short tubes of flesh sprouting tissues-like fans. Where its face would be was instead four thick tentacles covered in thousands of sharp barbs to grab prey while surrounding a large beak mouth filled with layers of jagged-shape teeth and a barbed tongue. Next to the mouth was a pair of large sword pincers sharp enough to pierce titanium and hold the most stubborn prey in its grasp. The one noticeably detail of the creature was the absence of eyes or any senses whatsoever. Magnus cursed once realizing he was in the presence of a predator that stalked the Waste, an Eerie Burrow.

Magnus regarded the Eerie silently as it rose a portion of its body from the ground hissing deeply after the Keeper of Secrets and promptly snatched the screaming Daemon with its tentacles and pierced it with its pincers.

The Daemon's screams turned to shrieks of pleasure combined with terror as the mouth of the Eerie Burrow quickly descended at it and devoured it with a bone-crushing snap as the Keeper of Secrets disappeared in its jaws.

Muffled shrieks could still be heard emitting from the mouth as the Eerie loudly swallowed its food and forced the Greater Daemon down its throat containing rows of sharp bone ridges to rip apart the unfortunate daemon spawn before reaching its stomach to be converted into energy to fuel the large warp beast. A process that would take years to complete. Not to mention the fact the Daemon was still alive along with the rift.

Magnus suddenly felt the air around chill a bit as the Eerie Burrow _slowly_ turned its 'gaze' towards him as it sensed his location. Staring back at the beast, he silently gulped and willed the warp to his side carefully to not draw its attention.

In an instant, the Eerie's tentacles twitched slightly and Magnus opened a hole through the warp.

The Eerie suddenly darted forward faster than something its size should accomplish and smashed into the empty place Magnus just stood as its mouth tasted earth and stone rather than flesh.

Pulling its head from the hole it created and unaffected by the damage, it stared at Magnus who stood several hundred meters from his original position and growled deeply at him. He felt a shiver climb up his spine from growl as it reminded him of the rumbling crash of a waterfall striking bed rocks and the howling gales coursing through a broken canyon merged with ill intent.

Without warning, the Eerie thrusted its head forward and screeched with a raucous sound combined with scrapping boulders and ethereal power, forcing Magnus to summon a dome to filter the cry along with any spit that flew from its mouth and landed on his shield.

Still keeping the shield active, he spun the Nemesis multiple times to gather power and directed the tip towards the Eerie just as it launched itself at him again. A single streak of energy flashed from the tip and exploded in the face of the warp creature, creating a mighty blast and a rapidly expanding sphere of light as the Eerie was thrown back and Magnus teleporting before the violent power reached him instantly.

Magnus felt the air around him shift as he teleported, his vision temporally filled with vibrant hues of colors and whipping winds before replaced with the sight of land as he appeared roughly twenty kilometers east on a mountain from his last spot.

Looking back to where he was, he could see a large shallow crater surrounding the Eerie Burrow as it slowly shook from its daze it suffered from the explosion resulting in much of its face covered in burns and scratches but otherwise unharmed and _very_ pissed. He saw the sign and began running down the mountain faster than any living sentient could hope to accomplish through the power of the warp to put a larger distance between the creature and him once it realized his missing presence.

Minutes past as he ran halfway down the mountain before a shrill cry swept through the air as it finally pinpointed his location and grinding sounds quickly replacing its voice, indicating it had now gone under.

Magnus drew more energy around and him and increased his speed as he left the mountain slopes and pounded through the plains as the grinding neared his presence. He managed to cover numerous kilometers before the face of the mountain exploded in a shower of ethereal granite as the Eerie tunneled its way out into the air and collided with the ground in a titanic crash whiling pulverizing outright anything underneath its colossal size. Its massive body ploughed through the land, leaving a deep trench in its wake before it reared its head back and dug into the earth rapidly and disappeared from view.

Making several leaps across the land to cover more distance, his senses whip in frenzy as he once more shifts the warp around him into a tunnel form and re-positioned himself in time before the Eerie broke through the surface and snap at the empty air once more and tunneled in again.

Running over a large hill, Magnus bolts to the side as the Eerie bursts from the surface and misses him narrowly and enters the ground as he leaps forward with momentum. Covering a greater distance, he jumps into the air and twists around to face backwards just as the Eerie breaks out to catch him and slams a bundle of electrical energy into its face, momentarily frying its senses and causing it to crash solidly on the ground.

Using this opportunity, he spins around and gathers large amounts of psychic energy before smashing his fist into the ground and releasing all the energy at once. Without losing a beat, he continues rushing forward as the Eerie crushes the earth once more instead of him.

The chase continues on for many more minutes until the entire landmass mass begins to rumble in deep echoes as the floating land starts breaking apart with its foundations compromised. The Eerie screeches in rage at the dawning realization of its home now lost for good while Magnus smiles knowing his method worked.

Immediately, he comes to a halt as his sixth sense warns him of the end of the landmass before he could continue running off the ledge and into the warp currents. However much to his surprise, ahead of him and the floating landmass he stood on that was slowly peeling apart was another one three times the size of the current one with countless other smaller landmasses either connected to the main one or suspended above it through unknown means.

Not to mention the very ground he was standing on was being drawn in to the larger landmass while crumbling to pieces with him still on it.

The ground beneath him shattered into hundreds of large shards as the landmass collided on top of the larger one, throwing Magnus off his feet and fall to the ground. Twisting around, he glimpsed a large stone shard fill his vision before darkness obscured everything.

* * *

Azrael aggressively grabbed one of the humanoids in the neck with his right hand and smashed the fiend into the floor, pulverizing its collarbone.

In his left hand, his specially crafted Combi-Plasma weapon, _Lion's Wrath_ barked in fire as every bolt shell and plasma shot found its target that lined within the sights of the barrel. It would take two shells and one shot to break through the armor and one of both to effectively kill the xeno underneath it.

Releasing his grip on the corpse, he dodged the swing of another and shoulder-checked the chin of the humanoid before shifting his weapon and fired a shell into its exposed neck, coating his weapon and hand with its blood and innards.

Warnings lit up in HUD as crystalline shards vaporized upon his shield and he twisted around, letting the _Lion's Wrath_ bark fire at more targets until its magazine ran dry. Through centuries of experience, he detached the empty clip and used his minor psychic strength to snap a fresh one from his belt and continue firing uninterrupted.

An inhuman howl came from his left as one of those _things_ charged at him with a sword buried in its ghastly chest and its horrid body marred with deep plasma wounds. Altering his stance, he fired several plasma shots in its legs causing it to stumble before strafing its repulsive body with shells until it swung its deformed right limb in arm's length. Ducking under the swing Azrael crouched down and fired more bolts into its vile face until it forced to cover its face and used the opening to blow out its weakened right leg.

Rolling away from the collapsing _thing_, he rose to his feet and yanked the _Sword of Secrets_ from its hideous chest before finishing it off with a several bursts to the head.

In a flash, Azrael swung the sword behind and blocked the blade of a humanoid attempting to strike him. In quick succession, he delivered a strong elbow to the xeno and twisted his body around to face it while pivoting of its sword aside with his own before bringing the barrel of his weapon to its face and fired. Swiftly, the helmet of the xeno crumbled from the entry of the shell as the diamantine-tip broke through the armor material and pierced several centimeters of flesh before coming to halt. Four milliseconds ticked by for a pulse signal to travel the fuse after contact to reach the charge in the core. Another three milliseconds went by for the core to prime and detonate its charge after receiving the pulse signal. The entire head of the humanoid exploded in a shower of gore as the shockwave of the shell reduced the cranium to soup and ejected out the surface flesh and bone everywhere, covering Azrael in its viscera and dripping blood.

Sprinting forward past the dead body, he cleaved aside another humanoid in half from the shoulder to the waist without slowly down and blew out the spine of another from behind. "Look out Legion Master!"

He slid to a halt when a Deathwing Knight slams his storm shield in front of the Legion Master without warning and braces from a dark pulse striking the shield in Azrael's direction. The hulking Spartan bears his shield around to the right to block more attacks while Azrael loops around him to the left and fires at the responsible foe. "Lane eleven-zero*!"

The Spartan grunts in affirmative as he twists his shield over his head to the direction and stops more attacks while Azrael slides under his arms. "Lane three-zero, yours!" he growls out.

Azrael aims the _Lion's Wrath_ and fires at two humanoids quickly puts one out of action and forces the other to seek cover or risk death. A shadow falls next to him as another Deathwing Centurion slams his shield down and rakes the field with his Gravis-pattern bolter above his cover, the magnetic field tech of the gun spewing a heavier version of the bolt shell at an outstanding rate overlapping that of a normal bolt rifle.

Suddenly to his right, a fiery psychic form of an ancient armored human on fire flies past him and swoops in on the humanoids roaring in rage as it incinerates those it strikes with a flaming sword or standing near it. Azrael looked back to see an Occult standing behind with his staff glowing in crimson energy and chanting a spell that fueled the current attack sowing chaos amongst the humanoids.

Around him, more and more Spartan's joined the group while others mimicked the action around the chamber as the members of the Deathwing used their heavy Centurion armor and storm shields to provide thick cover while their smaller brothers stood back and suppressed the enemy to prevent them from concentrating their fire on the heavy Spartans.

A whirring built up sounded off of Azrael's left side before a stream of bolt shells screamed through the air and tore apart any humanoids in its pathway. A large black armored Centurion hailing the colors of the Deathwatch lumbers past Azrael and continues firing a portable Heavy Bolter while Agente Ravenor follows closely with his boltpistol out of his holster and accompanied by two other Deathwatch Spartans providing him support.

"_Legion Master! We need to break the deadlock the xenos have placed us in!"_ Ravenor shouted over the noise of fire in the neural-link. _"It's only a matter of time before we run out of ammunition!"_

"_We can't!"_ He gravely responded. He flinches when the Spartan to his left catches an energy bolt to the shoulder while his shields were down, melting through a portion of the armor. He tore himself from the view to lean around a Deathwing Knight and fire a burst directly into the cranium of a humanoid. _"That rift is preventing us from getting any closer to the hallway. Whatever these xenos are using, they're not affected by the malevolence of the warp like us!"_

"_Emperor-dammit! Merrick, can you see if there is any sort of defenses in this room?"_

"_Easier said than done!"_ he exclaimed. _"That other guy left the entire network in shambles after activating the Dreadnought. It's a complete chaos in here!"_

"_But is there any weapon systems or something defensive you can activate?" _Ravenor inquired hastily.

"_What? You want me to activate the antimatter bomb underneath us?! Have you lost it again, Ravenor?!"_ he shouted over the link.

"_I never said to activate the bomb you digital cog-brain!"_ Yelled Ravenor back exasperated. _"Check for any systems that will protect us in this room and not kill us all!"_

"_Oh so now we're getting into name calling aren't we, hairless flesh-ball."_ Retorted Merrick.

"_Just. Do. It!"_

Huffing in irritation but otherwise complying, Merrick dove back into the trashed system to find the necessary security protocols and programs.

Ravenor cringed back from several crystalline shards splattering across his shields and quickly blew out the arm of a humanoid in retaliation. "Wonder how the fleet is handling the dreadnought? Probably not good at all." He muttered to himself.

**[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]**

Orbit over Curwen

Things could have been honestly better for the Imperial Navy fighting for control of Curwen's aerospace. For one, there would have been the likelihood of not needing to fight against a large rubbish fleet of ork ships or the Covenant of the Mantle trying to take the world from the Imperium. Or against a single, albeit massive ancient, high-tech ship completely wiping the floor with the Imperials.

Unfortunately for the Imperial Navy's day, it had to be the latter.

Crimson colored shields activated to life as countless munitions slammed into the Forerunner Dreadnought in a firework display as the Imperials tried to take out the incredibly dangerous opponent as quickly as possible. The ship however moved undaunted by the firepower and continued firing its phase beams into the Imperial lines.

Donavich gripped the side of the hololith as the sole capitol ship laughably tore through his fleet with just one set of weapon, _one_! _"All ships scatter and assume formations Theta and Loner now! High-grade weaponry authorized and warm up __**all**__ heavy weapons on standby!"_

Complying with his orders, all the ships intact scattered in small groups with a cruiser or two and numerous escorts to support each other while the capitol ships pairing up together and moved forward to take the brunt of an assault and utilize their full arsenal without fear of friendly fire.

"_Sacred's Oath and Steel Core, merge your beams with the Pillar of Light's to cover the Photep and the Invincible Reason and their battle groups!"_ he bellowed in the neural-link as the hull beneath him hummed in anticipation. He waited until one of the ensigns announced the cannon fully charged. _"FIRE!"_

The prow of the _Pillar of Light_ steadily glowed in a deep cerulean hue emitted from a long turret as the massive twin-linked barrels lifted up and fired a beam of energy. The same action was mimicked by two other Retribution battleships as they fired their own respective Disintre-beams directly into the path of the first beam. Simultaneously hitting each other, the beams merged together to form a much more powerful beam that splayed over the crimson shield of the dreadnought, causing the shields to lose some intensity.

Moving quickly, the _Invincible Reason _lumbered from its previous position surrounded by eight Battle Barges as its escorts, the _Angel of Retribution_, _Undying Faith_, _Unrelenting Fury_, _Vinco Redemptor_, _Archangel of War_, _Sins of Hell_, _Judgment_, and the _Immortals_.

Moving parallel to its sister ship was the _Photep_ and her own six escorts, the _Ankhtowe_, _Scion of Prospero_, _Kymmeru_, _Sekhemra_, _Costenllu_, and the _Katyeni_. Accompanying them was the Infinite _Star Rise_ for added firepower.

Both of the ancient Gloriana battleships moved steadily forward into position as the ship slowly spun its teardrop structures around it in a faster pace as more phase beams launched from the prow and struck the titanic ships.

To the relief of Donavich and the bridge, the shields of the ships held against the unrelenting firepower of the dreadnought that took down one-fourth of the fleet in the beginnings of the engagement.

"_Invincible Reason and Photep, launch a full tube spread of torpedoes!"_ Spat out Donavich in the link. _"All other ships, fire a volley of Archer missiles of apiece."_

From the view of the bridge, he watched as hatches across the hull opened up to launch several dozens of hexagonal cylinders of fire into the void which was copied by the rest of the fleet as they fired their own payload of missiles into the volley. Thousands of missiles streamed across the empty void as they passed the two forward battle groups and aimed firmly towards the lone dreadnought.

Reacting with extreme precision, thin rays of energies shot from concealed ports in the hull and felled dozens of missiles with each pass while a turbulent of plasma bolts flew from turrets and intercepted countless more of them with accuracy only an AI or something with a high neural input could accomplish. But despite the fact the enemy ship was destroying hundreds of missiles in minutes, thousands more still came through the firestorm and collided with the shield, obscuring its view in a lightshow of explosions.

Squads of cruisers and their frigate companions used the distraction to perform a small FTL jump in slipspace and dropping right next to the dreadnought. The cruisers quickly raked the sides of the ship's shields with their lance and laser batteries while the frigates swarmed across and fired their own weapons, forcing the ship to divert power everywhere in its shields to recompense its loss. And just as quickly as they appeared, the ships jumped right back into FTL before the ship could properly respond to the attack and annihilate them.

Reacting quickly, all the capitol ships fired a volley of Nova shells into the prow and the portside of the dreadnought, pounding the shields with powerful payloads of fusion cores. Reeling back from the fire, the ship responded with waves composed of dozens of protonic torpedoes as they traveled through space faster than aby ordinance the Imperial had in their arsenal and struck the larger ships.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Shouted Kiosk as the ship groaned and shuddered slightly thanks to dampeners in action as the emergency thrusters kicked in to move the large battleship from the path of the torpedoes.

"Captain, three of the torpedoes are locked in our position and will hit us in fifteen seconds!" An ensign spoke from his monitor.

"Raise the shields in the direction and brace for impact!"

Not too soon, two of the torpedoes struck the shields of the starboard side, knocking the shields down to dangerous levels before the last one broke through and smashed into the hull. The hull groaned deeply from the hit as Kiosk grimaced at the wound inflicted on the machine spirit. "Damage report!"

"Decks 49, 50, and 51 in sections C to F have been breached and are currently being vented. Hydra pods B4-B9 have been disabled along with Macrocannons Two and Three." Reported another ensign.

"Seal the breaches and get enginseers to restore the status on those weapons ASAP!"

"Admiral, eight more ships have been lost in the enemy volley and thirteen are venting!"

"Have half of the damaged warships that are still operational pull back and form Kilo battle groups as a last line while the rest place themselves over the planet and release all their transports to the surface. Those unable to function are to retreat to the coordinates behind Nova Prime III for emergency repairs. Coordinate with the rest of the fleet to reform into a Diamond-shield formation," ordered Donavich. "Give a wide-fleet communication for all capital ships to activate their Exterminatus weaponry and ready to fire on my command. Update our ground forces to either seek shelter or evacuate."

Many of the crew including Kiosk gaped in shock at the announcement of the order he placed down but otherwise obeyed and relayed the orders.

"B-b-but admiral!" Kiosk sputtered in disbelief. "If we use that much Exterminatus-grade weaponry this close to a planet, we'll risk collateral damage on the planet with our comrades still on the surface! There wouldn't be a planet left!"

"If we don't, there won't be a planet or a fleet left in this system once it's done!" Retorted Donavich. Staring intently at the hololith, he watched massive energy lances fired from light-material devices shred the _Sins of Hell_ and _Katyeni_ to pieces with ridicules ease and spear the _Star Rise_ in its plasma reactor. Another squad tried to ambush the ship but it quickly responded with its tail hull spinning in different segments before auspex sensors rang crazy with the presence of heavy gravity emitting from the lone ancient ship. The formation of the squad instantly collapsed as each individual ship was caught and pulled apart by one of the natural fundamentals of the Cosmos. The Gloriana battleships quickly fanned out on each side and pounded the ship with their heavy broadsides batteries as their shields continued holding out against the unrelenting power.

"We cannot allow this ship to run rampant in the Imperium with the kind of technology it wields. The results could be very devastating or worse if it escapes functional." The windows immediately polarize from a blinding light as the _Star Rise_ explodes into its namesake. "If we must sacrifice hundreds of thousands to save tens of billions in Segmentum Ultima from this, so be it."

Silence filled the bridge as everyone slowly digested the information they were given. Even though they hated to admit it, the admiral was correct in the assumption that if the ship was to leave this system in one piece, nearby sectors would be placed in danger of this unknown attacking them.

And Imperial Navy policy dictated that should a high-level threat discovered to be spaceborne, it must be eliminated through any means necessary regardless of the cost.

However, any last thoughts of doubt quickly vanished once the teardrops spinning around the ship stopped to a halt and suddenly expanded into skeleton devices and vibrated violently in the magnetic fields. A transparent sphere erupts outwards from the ship and collides with the closest Imperial ships, completely vaporizing the _Archangel of War_ and any escorts nearby to shards and struck the fleet a blow.

Before their eyes, the sphere slammed into the titanic _Invincible Reason_, devastating her hull to a mangled appearance and crippling her escorts to float helplessly in the void. The _Photep_ however along with her escorts survived through their additional psychic shields implanted in their ships but now otherwise faced the power of the ship alone.

Donavich slammed his fist in pure anger on the panel of the hololith, cracking the glass and causing the holograms to flicker slightly. He was too angry to think properly or feel his hand throb in pain. "ORDER THE _PHOTEP_ AND HER ESCORTS TO RECOVER THE _INVICINBLE REASON_ AND WHAT REMAINS OF HER OWN ESCORTS TO SAFETY! AND HAVE THE FLEET EMPTY THEIR MAIN BATTERIES ON THAT SHIP _**NOW**_!"

The crew rapidly threw themselves in their stations at the raging orders of their Star Admiral while Kiosk and the _Pillar of Light_ machine spirit merged their minds deeper together and screamed in a fusion of organic and digital voice at the weapon officers to fire the heavy batteries at their limit.

Nova shells and lance beams swept through the void and collided with the powerful shields of the dreadnought in masked fury as the _Photep_ and her escorts made an emergency jump next to her sister ship and tethered them with energy lines.

Not wanting to let its prey escape, the ship fired scattered volleys of protonic torpedoes at their engines and dug through their hulls with energy beams. The _Costenllu_ buckled as a beam tore through the prow before a massive slipspace portal opens up and allows the group to flee the area.

"_All capitol ships, fire!"_ Donavich shouted in the neural-link.

At once, hundreds of large missiles were fired from their secured pods while high-charged energy beams were fired at dangerous settings. Nova cannons fired specially designed but rare shells that swept through the void carrying their deadly cargo.

The beams were the first ones to reach the dreadnought, the crimson shields rippling in effect as a dozen beams slammed into their target and caused the shields to flicker slightly. The force of the attack was enough to push back the massive ship several meters from its original position before the second wave struck.

Tens of gigajoules of energy blanketed the dreadnought as each shell and missile collided separately and either created unstable nuclear cores or released highly compressed thermal energy at once. The dreadnought rocked violently in the shock wave of the blasts as its shields finally shattered under the strain of the power. Unfortunately despite the carefully firing solution by the Imperial fleet, a good portion of the shock waves failed to be absorbed by the ship and instead traveled straight into the atmosphere of Curwen and reacted.

The first to be affected by the shock waves was the exosphere, the many satellites that orbited the planet in one piece or pieces were rammed off their trajectories and forced into a collision course for the surface of the planet. The thermosphere and the mesosphere were unaffected by the by the unnatural forces but caused the falling satellites to light up into balls of molten metal. The stratosphere became next as entire banks of clouds were completely annihilated from existence and wind currents severed from their pathways. Finally, it entered the troposphere and touched the earth.

Then the destruction began.

Entire swaths of land were instantly flattened from the pressure and any life whether plant or animal were crushed to paste into the ground before they were aware of what was happening Like an expanding ring of destruction, the shock waves traveled their way across the surface, destroying everything in the path. Mountains were grinded to pebbles, valleys buried under earth and oceans emptied of their water as the very air shook from the power that swept through. Here and there, a small town would lie in the pathway and would be smothered from existence or a wandering ork mob unaware of what was coming quickly reduced to a pile of pulp flesh, nothing stopped the destruction.

Then came a city of glass and steel, its presence soaring proudly into the sky and stretching across the horizon. A sign of power and immortality to those who gaze upon it with their eyes.

The outermost part of the shock waves reached first, shattering all the glass panels in the city in one sweep and blowing away empty vehicles. Then the heart of the force arrived before the glass could separate, tearing out the frameworks and crushing the support of countless buildings. Their forms groaning in protest of the treatment as they tipped over in broken pieces in an agonizing slow speed or collapsed in a chorus of twisting metal and crunching stone. Short or tall, all fell under the power of this force as the proud city transformed into a shadow of death and sorrow in a blink of an eye.

Finally, the valiant Imperial men felt it come for them.

Scurrying for their transports knowing doom was coming for them. Machines and weapons were mournfully abandoned except those of high value as men crowded the holds of the crafts to their limit. The old veterans stayed back to accept their fate, choosing to allow the younger a chance to continue their life and earn their honor whilst they had enjoyed theirs for centuries. The engines of the crafts straining to make the multiple journeys back and forth as fast as possible.

Disaster reached them.

Like a vengeful god, the shock wave swatted aside many transports in its path and sent them careening into the ground in blossoming explosions, most still carrying their screaming passengers. Men and machines outside were crushed and left unrecognizable in the coming storm, their screams drowned by the howling of death. None were spared, none were overlooked and none lived.

Farther away, a lone ancient installation stood silently without care in the world as a steady sight of earth crumbling approached rapidly with a stream of multiple gunships speeding for the structure as fast as their engines could go. Faster than a blinking eye, the shock waves easily overtakes the last craft and smashing it into the ground, its form crumpling under the pressure. Hearing the fate of their companion, the rest spur on faster to reach their target before it saw what was approaching.

Another blink, a second gunship is overtaken, its right wing violently ripped off and forcibly sent spinning helplessly into the earth before sharing the fate of its last companion.

Another blink, a third loses control of its stability and is thrusted into the ground, tumbling across the unforgiven ground until flattened in an instant.

Three blinks, the installation's rusty sensors detect the magnitude force approaching and responds with ancient protocols. A massive barrier begins to slowly form a solid shield between the station and the destruction approaching.

Another blink, the first gunships flies through the forming shield and halts instantly before it could redecorate the walls with its remains.

Another blink, a fourth and fifth are quickly reached and slammed onto the ground, leaving behind deep impacts and snuffed explosions.

Another blink, a second and third gunship enter the incomplete barrier safely and halt.

Another blink, a sixth gunship is caught and violently thrown to its doom.

Another blink, a fourth succeeds in entering before the barriers solidifies its existence, the fifth trailing behind fails to see the change in time and collides into the shields.

Another blink, the seventh and the sixth, the last gunship sees its target locked out and abandons the objective, pushing its engines to faster speeds to escape above. But not fast enough.

Two blinks, the shock wave sweeps through and swats the lone gunship from the air, sending it spinning widely without control until the earth greets it.

Another blink, the ancient shield strains and slightly cracks as a great force attempts to crush it as the entire surroundings are ravaged and twisted.

One last blink, the strain disappears as the force passes and the cracks quickly repair as the sensors follow the line of destruction until it begins losing power and finally fades away after its terrifying act.

And in one act, Curwen _bled_.

* * *

**I'm back suckers with chapter 14 guys!**

**You may noticed the fact that this chapter was slightly shorter compared to the ones I usually write: I wanted to make up for you guys for taking to long with the last chapter and leaving you lot ripping your hair out in frustration. **

**Reviews NOW:**

**_SPARTAN-626_: Yeah sorry about taking so goddamn long but hey life isn't perfect. I agree the DE must suffer absolute pain buuut unfortunately not all will get that fate. The Emperor will be making a scene next chapter and will kick ass, so don't worry if he doesn't show up to dominate the battle. The next chapter will finish up Curwen and continue with the good-old plot. You can say their reaction will be...unpleasant. ****As for how the hell the Spartans got to that position, for one none of the Spartans have their sex drives removed (else why would you join them if it involves removing something so great?), so discipline and focus keeps it down acceptable levels (which creates the challenge being able to seduce someone with that kind of mentality). Plus with the fact that female Spartans of the third legion can be considered exotically beautiful combined with psychic, even tough men break unless they're gay or castrated. Yes Spartans can have families such as the Ultraspartans or Salamanders while the Iron Warriors pretty much look down on intimacy as "waste of time". **

**_MEleeSmasher_: the Imperium isn't going to take any Forerunner tech, they're going to instead melt it down to scrap and subject it to Exterminatus, twice. You'll see soon what they'll be doing.**

**_OMAC001_: its not the Didact, rather another exclusive Forerunner we know of (hint: he copycatted Horus from 40k)**

**...**

**Did Magnus survive the crash and hopefully avoid being eaten by that over-sized earthworm? Was the Dreadnought defeated and did the fleet survive to regret their decision?**

**Find out next time on Galaxia's Wars!**

**Memor ut totus decisiones ferre per consequens secundum quod sumitur.**

**Don't forget to Favor, Like and post Reviews for criticism and fuel for my writing!**

* * *

**Here's a sneak peek of what could possibly occur in the future of Galaxia's Wars.**

**Not however it can change, but this is still a tatse of the future!**

Silently shifting through the dense shrub of the forest, Major Domo Val 'Oramee led his small decurion of Sangheili scouts as they carefully swept their surroundings for anything.

The old Sangheili watched his every angle as he moved, his experienced eyes taking in all details he observed and his sharp ears picking up all noises in the forest that would alert him of an unknown. The younger scouts meanwhile behind him struggled to observe the same thing he could see and simply inspected the obvious rather the specific.

Gazing the ground intently, a glint flashed in his eyes as he quickly notices a very faint imprint in the soil nearly covered in leaves. Had Val not been an experienced scout himself and not gone on dozens of missions similar to this, he would've easily missed this detail or pass it off as belonging to the wildlife here. But he knew better than to overlook it.

Steadily lifting his right arm to present two fingers, the decurion silently stopped as he cautiously stepped forward and kneeled next to the imprint. Gently swiping aside the leaves for a better visual, he carefully scrutinized the mark, taking in everything he saw and comparing them to what he knew. Val prodded the imprint gently for confirmation before mussing over his discovery: something else was in this area with them at this moment.

Rising up to his hooves, he flagged down two fingers followed by three and slowly moved it in a circle. Silently nodding at his orders, the young Minor Domos spread out in a loose line and readied their weapons as Val led the group forward.

The decurion managed to cross around ten hoof steps before a faint creak reaches Val's ears.

He swiftly whipped around and fired three bolts from his energon rifle into a dense tree, shattering the calm silence of the forest. The rest of the decurion snapped into battle positions and aimed their weapons at the tree.

A few agonizing planesecs passed before they are rewarded with the body of a lightly armored Human tumbling from the branches of the tree and impacting the ground. Two vapor holes could be seen on his chest and one where his visor would be.

One of the scouts cautiously approached the corpse and prodded him with his weapon to confirm his death before giving a 'clear' sign.

In a silent manner, the decurion regrouped together once more and huddled around the corpse as Val himself inspected the Human for any intel.

"How is there a Human scout here already?" One of the scouts hissed in nervousness. "I thought intelligence marked the invasion fleet to be only several cycles from reaching the edge of the system."

"He could possibly be part of a vanguard force sent ahead to probe our defenses we placed on this unclaimed world to halt the invasion." Another scout suggested. "It's not unheard of them to do so."

"True but that's with smaller fleets, not with a massive one like the one currently heading for us!"

"Don't you mean one of the massive ones?" A third scout corrected. "You recall there's others heading through other systems where our brothers are going to face them."

"I heard that the Human Emperor is personally leading main invasion with most of his sons." Whispered another.

"That's just a rumor."

Unnoticed to them, Val shifted through a holographic device on the Human's wrist before his ears picked up a new sound and briefly looked up. "It now begins…" he murmured to himself.

The scouts hushed themselves and strained to hear what their Major said. "What?"

Val simply stood up straight and pointed directly behind them in the air. Following his aim, they all turned around and felt their breath stifle in their throats at the sight.

High above in the violent-colored sky, fiery streaks of fire could be seen slowly descending from the heavens, their numbers reaching in the tens of thousands and seemed to be everywhere.

"What…are they?" A scout hesitantly asked.

Val didn't answer at first, instead choosing to step forward and stare intently at the streaks of fire. "Drop pods."

"Drop-pods?" A scout skeptically asked before turning to panic. "You mean the same ones the Humans tend to use to land directly on our heads in a battle?!"

"Yes." Val answered to the younger scout. "All of you get ready, war has finally reached this world."

As if fate decided to hammer his words, an echoing explosions vibrates through the atmosphere as a large, fragmented warship collapses through the sky and crashes into the earth, releasing a blinding light.


	15. Chapter XV

**Author's Note:** **_after nearly two-hundred days of college, paper heresy, writer's block, laziness, distractions, paper heresy, and work. I have finally finished this Gods-damned, greenhorned, lowbred, cocky, son of a bastard, motherfu#^$(**#&amp;*/҉ҋar ѣ∑[%)(!HɯɲV^Ʌ҂_... ... ... ... ... ..._++the following swear and curse words have been omitted due to being hazardous and completely barbaric for readers, please use positive ones++_... ... ... ..._-ARRRRGG CHAPTER!_**

***Takes a deep breath*_ Anyway... I'm finally glad to have this down after the multiple rewrites this had gone through. So we will forgo customs. I a_****_pologize_**_** to all my loyal followers who (I'm)patiently waited for this chapter to come out and because of this, this massive chapter I've written so far is here for you guys to enjoy. **_

**_I present to you guys...Chapter 15! And I do not own Warhammer 40K and Halo and others except what I created, those are mine. _**

* * *

**Arise from the Ashes**

_I recall that day like it happened yesterday. The day when the Emperor and his selected Companions descended on Curwen and struck down the Herald of Shadow and the Fallen Blood Star that dared tread in his domain. A battle that rattled the old bones of the world as Gods clashed with each other._

_-Veteran Sergeant Samuel, a survivor of the mishandled Exterminatus._

* * *

Novelus Martin screamed loudly as his body began violently transforming to something different down to a molecular level.

His skin began slowly morphing to a texture of ebony scaly skin as patches of his original was pushed out of the flesh and dissolved to ash. His body twisted and jerked as his fingers scraped against the metal floor harshly, his bones breaking and reshaping audibly under his armor. Muscles expanded in mass under his skin, ripping apart his armor and cloth apart as he changed. He threw his head back, wordlessly screaming in agony as his jaw bones slowly altered forward and horns cracked through his skull while small clumps of hair fell out or began transforming into something. His hands trembled as they became larger and sharp claws protruded from his fingernails, digging deeply into the floor as the middle and index fingers merged as one and his feet imitating the same action.

More bone cracks sounded off as two large humps appeared in his back and sluggishly tore through the skin, revealing two pairs of tattered onyx wings twice his size spread out as joints rearranged themselves. His screaming turned to an inhuman howl as thick canines grew in place of his teeth and his jaw broadening. More horns could be seen growing out of his head, curving or twisting around as a bone plate broke through the skin on his forehead. He momentarily shuts his eyes and widens them as webs of lava veins from across the blood-red sclera towards his irises while they gradually transform into maroon with vertical slits glowing in darkness combined with another pair of eyes mutated above the original ones.

His arms convulsed as the muscles grew thicker and larger beyond the norm of a Human and bone shards protruding from behind his forearms and elbows like curved blades followed by thousands of tiny needles of bones sprouting like hair. In the back of his hip, a scaly tail grows out jerking as more bone blades grow from the end of it and fan out. The howls soon turn to deep groans as molten red stone fragmented across the body into thousands of shards, leaving behind steaming glints of jet black armor in its wake covering the torso, the upper halves of the limbs and their ends.

Lifting its right hand aside, the shadows below it shift and form a large black iron shaft embedded with bones which it grips tightly and pulls out, causing a thick black chain to materialize and wrap around the limb. At the end of the handle was a massive charcoal blade shaped into a crescent ax combined with jagged teeth and bones forming the edge of the terrifying tool. On the other side of the shaft were three blades curving downwards with each one larger than the last one the lower it went and a fourth one longer than the rest above spiraling upwards instead. Engraved across the weapon were countless ash gray runes accompanied with patterns of sickly green lines glowing brightly.

Slowly and carefully, the black demon stood up to full height and glared at the daemon.

The demon itself towered over nine meters in muscle and power. Six large horns spiraled from the forehead surrounded by rings of smaller horns with a bone plate fixed in the center. A great helm stood on its brow, the metal surface engraved with images of ferocious beasts and horrors. Its face now carried four eyes instead of the two the Human had before and the mouth had been changed to that of a hybridization between canine and feline. Jet black steel covered most of the demon's body, the armor itself decorated with chains, bones and spikes while sigils and runes engraved the metal surface. A large gauntlet equipped with shadowy blades as fingers and glowing in sickly green could be seen covering its left hand.

The Greater Daemon took a step back from the rising form of a Mordûr Demon and carefully removed a parchment from its chest without taking its eyes off.

The High Demon took a deep breath and roared loudly, becalming the surrounding shadows and causing the Remembrance of Time to skitter back in an aggressive stance.

Just as quickly as it opened its mouth, the demon closed it and gripped the ax in both hands. Suddenly it opened its mouth and the haunting voice of a demonic dialect streamed out of its tongue. The sound of the language stabbed Vincent's ears like a thousand steel knives and iron hooks pulling his eardrums out. But his knowledge in the tongue allowed him to understand what it was speaking.

"…_**the Harvester of Bones Î am, Garzûlg they call me! Mordûr Demon to Hollow Forests of Azerûx and serves Avatûrî of Desolatîon, Baelzûhr! Face the axîom, spawn of Chaos!"**_

Swinging the ax above its head faster than Vincent could see, the High Demon covered the distance between himself and the Greater Daemon in seconds. The Remembrance reacted in equal speed and tossed the parchment before itself, causing a barrier to briefly appear and halt the ax in its tracks. The shield then ruptured forward immediately, sending the demon crashing through several walls and halls of the space hulk in before coming to a full stop.

A snarl is heard in the demon-made tunnel as the sound of something cleaved is heard and the entire section of the wall explodes outwards from an invisible force, forcing the Remembrance to form a barrier. Emerging from the shadows filling the expanded tunnel, Garzûlg swept his ax across the floor with the tip being the only part in contact, the weapon leaving behind a deep gorge in its wake before holding it with both hands.

The Remembrance carved a trio of runes on its skin, causing it's already razor claws to grow longer and its tentacles below to expand spikes across. _**"I am Kal'niari, Watcher of the Seventh Spire and servant of Lazori, the Keeper of Time! And I will not be brought done by the likes of you!"**_

Garzûlg snarled in hatred and leaped forward with his axe swinging, the weapon glowing in sickly green. Kal'niari leaped aside and swiftly raked his claws across the demon's torso, the flesh and metal fingers scraping across the steel and leaving scratches. The Mordûr Demon ignored this and spun around, backhanding the daemon to the side and swinging the axe in an underhand arc.

Another barrier lite up to life and deflected the edge of the axe and Kal'niari used the opening to wreath his right claw in warp flame and stab it into Garzûlg's chest.

Unfazed, he countered with gauntlet to the face which was halted by the barrier and followed with his axe, bending the barrier inwards with the strike and knocking the Greater Daemon into crates and debris.

Idly looking to the side, his eyes settled upon the grasping form of a human shadow sorcerer and the still form of another. Showing his teeth at the sight of warriors, he lifted his cloven hoof and slammed the floor, causing tendrils of shadows to peel from his and weave across the bulkhead and absorb into theirs. _**"Seekers of the Shadows, arîse from despaîr and cast that from the Transîence!"**_

Once the tendril of shadow merged with him, Vincent felt instantly reenergized and re-shifted to his feet in a blink, his dark sword and axord held in both palms, feeling stronger than before. Wordlessly, he threw himself at the Remembrance and slammed both weapons into the barrier with unrelenting fury.

Kal'niari shifted around a barrier of energy and deflected Vincent's strike and skirted to the right as an ax demolished the floor and several others below the one he previously occupied. Ripping the weapon free from the bulkhead, Garzûlg weaved multiple strokes of his ax at the Greater Daemon, forcing him steadily back and constantly deflecting every attack. Feeling his arms jerk from scrapping against the barrier, he quickly twisted the swing and brought the ax down on the chaos being's head. In a flash, another shield is placed before the strike lands and halts it in its path.

Distracted, Kal'niari didn't see Henrico jump from the shadows below him and thrust his glaive into his chest.

He released a twisted screech from the action and briefly lost cohesion in his mind, resulting in his shield to flicker and remove the pressure on the axe.

The screech quickly transformed to that of a wretched tone as the axe sliced through his face and severed a mandible from his multi-jaws. He retaliated with his claws thrusted into Garzûlg's armor and launched him in the air.

Not feeling deterred by this, he flipped out his four wings out and hung in the air while glowering silently at the Greater Daemon as the injuries he gave him slowly healed up and a new mandible grew in the place of the old one.

"_**I will tear your soul out and present it to my patron, abyssal!"**_ Kal'niari hissed out as he sliced a scroll in half with a claw, his hands now glimmering in vibrant energy.

Clenching his left gauntlet tightly, Garzûlg felt energy build up as he pointed his axe down at the daemon. _**"Thînk not chaotîcan…"**_ without warning, he pulled his wings back and pushed them outwards, throwing himself in a steep dive with his axe radiating sickly green of murk.

Reeling back at the sudden move, Kal'niari quickly placed his claws together and formed a ball of pure psychic energy, the sphere crackling in uncontrolled power and releasing spots of lightening. He glanced back at the demon and sneered. _**"We will see who truly stands afterward…"**_

* * *

The rubble of a former landmass nestled silently on the surface of its much larger cousin, no sound came from the pile of earth except the constant movement of the warp currents.

Suddenly, rays of golden light spewed from the cracks and increased in intensity as the rubble trembled from the power. Without warning, a golden eagle staff explodes from its prison attached to a living limb in a burning state of fury as the surrounding rock disintegrated into flakes of ashes from the flames.

Gasping in some air, Magnus held himself steady with his left hand on the ground as his staff lost its vibrant glow and returned back to normal. Using his staff for leverage, he pulled himself to his feet and grunted softly as he pulled in more psychic energy from his vast pool of power, healing up his wounds and renewing his strength. Feeling his bones stop aching and his muscles trembling, he cracked his neck and took in his surroundings.

"Let's see…alive and kicking…check. Still have my staff…check. Not too injured and armor intact…check. Still hear the annoying whispers of the warp...double check. Status…not checked."

Circling around him was a twelve meter wide circle with rubble fused together sitting at the edges like an upside-down dome with nothing at center except him. Frowning at the obstacles keeping him enclosed, he briskly walked forward in a random direction and watched as the rock before his path began turning to molten liquid and shaping a tunnel by his will.

Entering the makeshift pathway he made without losing pace, he continued tunneling through the thick pile of rubble until he finally reached the end of his makeshift prison and once more under the pale light of the Waste.

Behind him, a rumble could be heard as the largest pile of rubble shifted in place before collapsing to the sides, revealing the form of the battered Eerie worm. Which was now seething in indescribable _rage_.

Magnus gritted is teeth in frustration at the warp creature's inability to simply die and close the rift. Thrusting his left hand forward, bolts of warp lightning shoot out from his palm and raze its face and gathered energy in his staff.

The Eerie thrashes in pain, smashing apart boulders and earth everywhere as warp energy racked through its nerves. Twisting its massive body, it flung around its tail and connected it with Magnus.

Flicking his staff around, he struck his weapon with the tail, creating a colossal explosion of energy that reached high into the sky and flattened anything in a kilometer radius. Spinning the staff in an arc, he swung it before him and released a golden vortex whirling of solid force and collided head-on with the warp beast.

Like a massive hand slapping the Eerie away, the creature flew in the air and crashed with an earth-shaking blast as a mountain collapsed under it.

Gathering his energy, Magnus jumped high into the warp currents until he could see the entire landmass and formed a pocket bubble around to shield him. He then grabbed his staff with both hands and held it high above his head, the eagle glittering in a stream of colors and golden flakes. "BEGONE FOUL BEAST!"

With a psychic-enhanced yell, he swung his staff down and fired a tremendous beam of warp power laced with golden rays at the fallen Eerie. Striking the beast, a vibrant sphere of light exploded outwards with a golden pillar shooting upwards and briefly blinded his eyes even as his visor attempted to filter it.

Waiting until the spectacular show ended, he let himself fall to the landmass until he landed at the edge of the crater and saw the state of the oversized worm.

"W-What…how!?" Magnus gasped at still-living Eerie laid burnt and cracked on the ground despite the massive beating it took. No Eerie Burrow could have survived such an ordeal that he brought down. Only those that were ancient would have survived this and this one wasn't even under the category! Unless…

Lifting his hand up, the head of the Eerie was shifted to the side and allowed him a view of the face. Inspecting its facial aspects, he could see faint markings of a light shade of green in patterns of seven that stung his eyes when he looked at them.

The signs of a Chaos infection…of Nurgle..._frak_.

Baleful screams and roars could be heard wafting through the currents as Magnus dropped the worm and spun around with his staff glowing in preparation.

In the distance, he could see blood chariots pulled by howling Flesh Hounds tearing through the terrain and leaving behind flaming trails in their wake of fury. Leading the charge was a large Bloodthirster decked out in brass armor streaming with crimson blood and armed with a massive battleax of Khorne and a barbed whip trailing it. Around him were countless Bloodletters howling in their demonic tongue and lashing out with their hellblades in eager for bloodshed.

Reacting fast, he shot a bolt of energy from his left palm at the Greater Daemon and slammed his staff into the earth with the eagle glowing. The Bloodthirster leaned forward and effortlessly blocked it with its battleaxe, resulting in light exploding suddenly in its face.

Surprised and blinded, the Bloodthirster howled in rage at the attack and lashed out blindly with his hellish whip. The chariot flanking on his right caught the whip in its fury and shredded apart in a fountain of blood. Smelling the blood of their brethren, the rest of the Bloodletters were whipped into a burning frenzy as they pressured the hounds to move faster.

Spreading his arms apart, Magnus clenched his fists tightly before colliding them back together.

The Bloodthirster managed to regain his vision only to once more be blocked by earth this time as two boulders smashed him in-between. His screams of frustration were cut off abruptly as Magnus swung his right arm aside, launching the stone prison into a rock formation.

Angered at the sight of sorcery used in the fight, the nearest Bloodletter used his companions to propel himself forward in the air towards Magnus with a bestial roar leaving its throat.

Waiting till the last moment, he quickly twisted around the falling daemon and using his inhuman strength, smashed the Bloodletter into the ground. Spinning around with his right hand outstretched, his staff turned counter-clockwise and dug deeper into the earth as the judgement of stone was cast. Large cracks began sprouting from the staff and crisscrossing through the ground at alarming speeds.

Seeing the approaching obstacles, the daemons steer their rides around the hazards. To their annoyance however, they quickly discover the cracks changing directions and intercepting their paths.

Pained howls left the throats of Flesh Hounds as they stepped into empty air and crushed both earth and flesh upon impact. Their bodies carving trenches as their very speed was turned against them. Bloodletters were either tossed in the air and shared a similar fate or collapsed with the chariot and became mangled smear in the ground. A handful succeeded in jumping of their doomed rides and found themselves closing the remaining short distance to their target of hate.

Calmly reaching out with his hand, the staff broke free of the ground and hovered for a few seconds before shooting through the air and slapping back in his hands.

Magnus watched as the first Bloodletter reached him and swung his hellblade down with the intent of severing his head. Just as the blade was halfway through the swing, a chunk of earth sailed by and collided with the daemon, throwing him off his feet.

Leaping over the daemon, he thrusted the butt end of his staff into the neck joints of the nearest one, temporarily incapacitating him. Twirling around with momentum, he quickly blocked the blade of daemon and used the attack to level the other half of the staff to redirect the swing of another.

Shifting his stance around, he spun the staff in a wide arc and brought down the eagle into the skull of a Bloodletter. The golden eagle easily dug through the thick hide of the daemon and left liquid grey matter behind as Magnus released his left hand from the staff and swung it behind, connecting with the face of another Bloodletter. The daemon screamed in rage and pain as his face caved in and launched himself blindly towards the human in blind hatred.

Moving faster than the Bloodletter could, Magnus dodged the daemon as he impaled instead the dissolving corpse of his fellow brethren and tore it apart in a blood frenzy. Before he could realize what had happened, Magnus struck swiftly from behind and blasted the warp spawn into the currents above. Incomprehensible rage filled the Bloodletter as the warp currents rapidly threw him across the sky until a random downdraft caught him and threw him below, the fading howl of anger the only indication of his existence.

**[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]**

Far below on the surface of the Waste, laid countless lands of petrified woodlands and frozen plains all divided by great rivers of tar. These rivers flowed unsteadily across the surface, constantly changing pathways as the land opened and closed in different time intervals. Twisted staircases defying all sense of laws spiraled across the warp, connecting countless landmasses to the surface or breaching deeply into the crimson sky and disappearing.

Dotting throughout the land were massive lakes of boiling tar where all rivers led to, each one constantly swallowing the surrounding land or wilting under it.

In one lake currently slurping away the banks of land, a steep rocky hill rose from the tar high in the air like a mighty sentinel. Resting at the top of the hill stood a simple large hut, although calling it simple would have been peculiar when in existing in the warp.

Its walls were constantly changing its width, length and height dimensions and appearance. The materials forming the body rapidly switching to different types ranging from brick and clay to steel and chromium and ones that theoretically should not possible exist. The interior of the home was no better than the exterior.

Inside, the floors themselves rippled with watery effects as its design patterns changed every-so-often into new models drastically: one moment the floor would have the texture of a cold, smooth stone surface, the next it would have instead of that of a flesh. The walls themselves were filled with countless doors, some opened to strange rooms that defied reality, others that lead to an empty abyss of swirling color. These doors would randomly close or open for an indefinite time limit, suddenly shift across the wall for unknown reasons other than to probably find a better spot, or bizarrely choosing to open horizontally up and down to reattach themselves in the _floor_ or _ceiling_ and leave behind a clean wall in their wake because they can do that.

Filling the entire space of the back room was an oversized table decorated with the most freakish carvings of creatures angrily snapping in the empty air and shifting into new forms. Covering the surface of the table were multiple floating orbs of rupturing energy spewing out uncontrolled substances into each other. Holding each of these energies with extreme precision and concentration before the table was the stiff form of a Lord of Change, a Greater Daemon of Tzeentch.

He stood silently with his arms outstretched, energy dancing in a twisted shape around his claws as they interacted with the experiment he was performing as his closed eyes twitched uncontrollably in scrutiny of his work.

Time ticked forward and backwards as he continued with his experiment when he subtly shifted his right hand slightly, causing an orb next to the lower left corner of the table to move a meter from its original position.

Suddenly the roof explodes in a shower of wood as a roaring Bloodletter breaks through and crashes in the empty, lower left corner of the table. Having fallen at an outstanding speed and being made of…well whatever a daemon is made of meant he proceeded to bounce off the table and soar across the room. He soon quickly greeted the wall with his snarling face as he landed next to a door.

Moving swiftly like a predator, the door opened its frame and body slammed itself on top of the lesser daemon before he could escape. Merging itself in its new place, the door vibrated slowly as muffled noises that sounded like chewing emitted from the frame and let loose an audible 'burb'.

The Lord of Change gave an unmistakable wry smile at the Bloodletter's fate as he once more returned his undivided attention to his work.

Another crash in the roof startles the greater daemon as a Hellblade slices through the measly ceiling and stabs directly into an orb, causing it to start spasm in power and spreading with the rest in an uncontrolled chain reaction.

The Lord of Change squawks in shock and horror and backs off in a flailing of limbs and feathers as the orbs began rupturing with greater intensity. Thin beams of energy sprouted from the surfaces of the orbs while they inflated in size and let loose a mixture of an ethereal shriek and hum.

Forgetting the fact he could use sorcery to teleport himself out, the Lord of Change shrieked in panic and shielded his face with his arms as the orbs gave off a burst of energy.

The hut was quickly enveloped in a burst of vibrant energy as it exploded outwards, disintegrating the house and the entire upper section of the hill it rested on. Just as soon as it appeared, the energy was sucked back in like a reversal and condensed into a small orb no larger than a Human hand. The orb spluttered in power before it gave off the last burst and winked out from existence, leaving behind a fine veil of mist.

A burnt claw abruptly broke from the mist as it gripped the edge of a boulder and pulled the rest of the body up to his feet. Shaking his head free from the pounding headache the explosion created and feeling ready to collapse, he devolved in his spirit and connected with his conduit of power. Drawing energy from them, he immediately felt the headache and others throughout his body rapidly disappear as he healed.

Straightening up, he looked back to where his experiment originally stood before hell had broken loose and gave off a frustrating screech as he only saw the wretched Hellblade that ruined everything standing where the hut used to be.

He couldn't believe what had happened. He had foreseen accurately the arrival of the lesser daemon that would have potentially destroyed his research after ages of working on it. But how in the name of the Architect of Fate did he not notice the sword also? By all rights, he should have seen it coming long before it had finished forging deep in the forges of Khorne's Rage.

Seething at the lone blade with a glare that could shatter it, it proceeded to then shatter to countless pieces under his gaze as the ambient energy sealed inside was released along with any that was in contact with it previously.

Shock and anger was expressed on his face as he felt a corrupting force he hadn't felt in a long time. Not since the old Equilibrium Wars eons ago.

Order.

It all made sense now, why he couldn't sense the sword. He had only been foreseeing things of chaos nature and not something affected by order like this!

Turning to glare back at the sky where the Bloodletter had fallen from, he could see a massive landmass steadily moving through the currents with bouts of light and explosions erupting from the top.

Extending his connection through the warp till he could grasp every sliver of the currents and the energy outbursts pouring from the landmass itself. He could feel the foul energy burst every so often as it lashed out against something of chaotic nature, dematerializing each one into the currents.

Screeching a high pitch psychic sound capable of rendering mortal minds to pulp, the Lord of Change drew in the full force of the nearest warp currents and focused them into a clear pathway.

Releasing the restraints, he felt the immense pull of the currents propel him forward at breakneck speed towards the landmass. Raising his claws slowly up, the currents obeyed the command and lifted him higher before shooting above the target.

He quickly snapped his wings outwards, halting himself mid-air and destabilizing the currents into swirling conduits of chaotic energy. Lifting his right claw, a twisted stave covered in eldritch sigils and tipped with a carving shaped as the Mark of Tzeentch materialized in his palm.

Swinging the tool above his head, the stave crackled in unstable energy as it fed in the chaotic energy surrounding the greater daemon directly into the eye. Once it began glowing brightly, the Lord of Change pointed the tip of his stave at the enemy producing order and fired a large spell composed of multiple energy tendrils.

**[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]**

Splintering the skull of a Bloodletter, Magnus finished him off with the butt of the staff rupturing the chest. Pulling his weapon free from the disintegrating corpse, he cocks his head in confusion as he feels something shifting strangely in the currents. Looking in the distance, he could see a large shape far away drifting across the warp and before he could muse over it, he felt the air behind him split.

Whipping his left hand behind, a barriers forms as a hellblade bounces from contact before it could cleave his spine in half. Snarling in frustration, the Bloodletter throws himself directly in the barrier in blind frenzy, determined to claim his skull.

In quick succession, warp tendrils collide with the barrier and the lesser daemon as the energy sweeps over both contacts. Boundless screams of rage leaves the throat of the Bloodletter as his flesh is slowly rendered apart from the overwhelming energy. Around his neck, the Collar of Khorne could be seen cracking and collapsing as it's crushed by a superior power as the daemon gives off one last roar before it explodes, taking with it the Bloodletter.

Watching the fading energy with caution, Magnus lets the barrier drop as the final wisps disappears around him. Behind him he hears the sound of a large body touching the ground and the sharp crack of a pole slamming into the stones, both reeking of psychic.

Not letting the unknown have a moment in preparation, Magnus swiftly thrusted the head of his staff behind him and fired a condensed bolt of lightning. The Lord of Change reacted with similar precision and countered with a steady stream of warp fire. Both energies collided with each other with tremendous force, fragmenting the earth around them to pieces.

Cutting off his attack, Magnus spun around the passing warp fire and flicked his hand slightly, causing shards of stone and packs of earth to hurl themselves at the daemon. Pausing his attack, the Lord of Change swung his stave in a lazy broad sweep and shattered the projectiles to dust.

The move however caused him to be distracted as a beam slammed into him without warning. But in the split second before, the eye on the stave sparked faintly and the beam glanced off a shield.

Striking the stone with the butt of the stave, the surface of the rock cracked deeply and shot off towards Magnus who responded with his staff digging into the stone below him. Just as the stream of cracks reached him, they instead veered into different directions and surrounded him as his wards prevented them from touching him.

Feeling a powerful spell shifting through the warp, Magnus saw the Lord of Change lift his stave in the air and swung it in his direction. A roaring explosion shakes the air as a pillar of shifting colors erupted from the crimson sky and aims for him.

Gripping his staff with both hands, Magnus thrusted his staff towards the incoming pillar and weaved a spell of his own into the golden eagle_. _**"O 'Adúras. Lána styrk til mín! Le mig bera vald þitt. Með það, mun ég ljósta óvin okkar með það!"* **Responding to his words, the statue hummed in power as golden energy gathered in its wings until they were constructs of pure light so bright it took the appearance of two small stars.

Sensing the staff having gathered enough energy, he lessened its input and redirected it focus. Just as the pillar struck him, a golden ethereal shield formed before him and intercepted the attack.

A massive explosion rocks the landmass as the energies of chaos and order react violently with one another. Around him, the land is completely cleared as the combined force of the attack flatten anything protruding above ground-level.

Feeling the Lord of Change's attack pushing him back, Magnus dug his boots into the earth and increased the input of energy into his shield. He knew he was more than capable of countering this attack should he really put his strength in it. _'But if I did it,'_ he mused, _'I would be effectively lighting myself as a massive beacon for Alduras-knows what living in this waste pit! I've already wasted enough time fighting here!'_

It was only when the pillar beam grew with more power that Magnus made up his mind. _'I'm going to regret this…'_ he thought to himself. Taking a deep breath, he channeled his strength into the eagle until the statue was glowing to the point of potentially blinding mortals with a glance. Then with a firm thrust, he unleashed a powerful psychokinetic blast directly into the pillar.

Striking the center of the pillar, the entire beam weakened as its bonds collapsed and the contained energy of violent polar-opposite energies merged together. The very atmosphere of the warp quakes before the magnitude of power as the landmass itself has nearly torn apart from the chain reaction. Around them, entire warp currents destabilize to nothing as the detonation itself brushes them aside, leaving momentarily a bubble empty of madness, instead filled with serenity. But it is soon crushed as the currents swarm the spot and collide with each other with the force of mountainous titans.

Feeling the deafening crash of the currents, Magnus reacts quickly with a leap forward, his boots leaving behind torn depressions in the ground in his wake. Whipping out his left hand, streams of lightning arcs erupt from his palm and race towards the Lord of Change.

Reacting with fluid grace, the Lord of Change dodged the lightning with centimeters to spare. Gathering crackling energy in his hand, he swept it before him, creating several unstable orbs that shot off towards Magnus.

Swinging his staff to bear, he summoned a force barrier and intercepted the orbs before they could harm him. Dropping the barrier quickly as it appeared, he instantly conjured the avenger spell and released a wave of raging fire incinerating anything in its pathway.

Moving with absolute precision, the daemon flapped its wings above the rolling fire and fired several doombolts at Magnus. Jumping to the side, he avoided most of the bolts with three glancing off his shields and retaliated with a firm raise of his left hand. Earth and stone broke free below the Lord of Change as a towering slab of granite rose swiftly to him and opened its upper part like the maw of a hungry predator.

Swinging his stave in a wide arc, a hazy sphere emerged from the Lord of Change and connected directly with the stone. The entire structure quickly crumbled as the molecular and ethereal bonds were severed violently with the spell. Using this opening, Magnus raised his staff and cast forward smite. Torrents of golden psychic energy flew from the eagle and slammed into a summoned barrier before the Lord of Change, throwing the daemon several meters back.

Reorienting himself in the air, the Lord of Change fired off a bolt into the earth, causing spiraling tentacles to sprout from the ground and lash at the Primarch.

Unfazed by this, Magnus leaped over some of them and struck the ground with a wave of death, reducing those close to him to withering ashes and the rest torn apart. Twisting around and sidestepping as a cursed whip ripped the empty ground and raised up a force barrier when another attacked him. He quickly dropped the barrier and swung his staff forward, cleaving the whip in half and retaliated with golden lances of fire.

Tendrils of dark energy flew from the eye of the stave and intercepted the lances with those that breached were casually avoided by the Lord of Change, even though the lances were moving faster than mortal minds could track with their eyes. Slamming his staff into the ground, thick pillars of stone rose like waking giants and collided with each other where the daemon stood.

The sound of tearing told Magnus the opening of a gateway as he quickly spins around, narrowly avoiding a powerful doombolt as it raced across the landscape towards a series of rock formations. Realizing where the bolt was aiming for, he pointed his staff at it and began channeling energy before suddenly thrusting the weapon behind and deflecting a large burst of warp fire. The distraction allowed the lone bolt to strike a protruding boulder that looked as though it had been merged together.

A golden rune burns brightly on the surface of the stone where the impact occurred and shatters itself, loosening whatever bonds it held on. The boulder immediately begins cracking and breaking apart as its occupant inside releases an _enraged_, bloodcurdling roar promising a ghastly death to the one responsible. A massive, wicked battleaxe suddenly breaks free from the boulder with the blade gleaming in desperation to feed on blood, its owner tearing himself out from his prison.

The Bloodthirster found himself to be battered as dents could be seen pocketing around his brass armor and his limbs (including his wings). He had lost his whip in the initial fight against the human pyskers but still held on to his trusting battleax, which was now growling for blood. Gazing into the distance, he could see the human pyskers that had dared locked him in this pitiful prison and a cowardly Lord of Change fighting with him.

A creeping haze of crimson red filled his view as he raged at the gall of the Lord of Change to dare utilize _sorcery_ to fight _his_ opponent! He could feel the boiling blood in his veins pump faster as the anger within him burnt brightly while his mind was locked in a deadlock.

'…_killbloodkillmaimkillburnkillingfrenzymaimbloodforthebloodgodkillmiamkiLLKILLINGFRENZYSKULLSFORTHESKULLTHRO__**NEBLOODKILLBLOOD!'**_

A feral roar leaves the lips of the Bloodthirster as he raised his great battle ax and charged forward to rip his enemies apart into showers of splattering gore.

Hearing the blood roar from behind, Magnus quickly executes a backflip while feeling the shrieking battleaxe cut through the empty air and landed behind the Bloodthirster. Thrusting his hand forward, a solid psychokinetic bursts from his palm and slams into the unprepared daemon, only succeeding in pushing him back several steps back as he weathered the psychic attack with ease.

Swinging the battleaxe with lightning speed, the Bloodthirster attempted to take Magnus's head off but he swiftly avoids the fatal strike and counters with his staff socking the daemon's jaw. Snarling in anger, he lifts his battleaxe and brings it down on the head of the Primarch who again dodges the attack and batters away the weapon with surprising strength. Before he could bring his battleaxe once to bear, a doombolt glances off the metal and jerks the weapon aside from his intended target.

Surprised at what happened, the Bloodthirster was too distracted to notice Magnus cocking back his arm and smash his fist directly into the snout of the daemon.

Feeling his psychic-enhanced fist bash the already-ugly face of the Bloodthirster, Magnus watched the daemon excavate a trench with his own soaring body as he struck the ground with his staff, producing a force barrier as more chaos orbs exploded harmlessly at him. Dropping the barrier down, he quickly ducked below the razor edge of a whip and swung his staff upwards and brought it down.

Above the floating Lord of Change, a warp current suddenly stretches as it is seized and thrusted down, slamming the trickster daemon into the ground where it should stay.

Not letting the Lord of Change a chance of recovery, Magnus leaps into the air with his staff gripped with both and held high above his head, crackling in arcs of golden energy. Watching the distance between himself and the rising form of his target decrease at a fast rate and swung the staff forward.

Knowing of his doom, the Lord of Change opens up a small gateway and quickly exits before the eagle impacts the spot, the energy contained inside released and blasting a wide, shallow crater spreading for numerous dekameters.

Pulling his staff free from the ground, Magnus takes a moment to grunt in annoyance before a whistling sound comes from behind and he spins around and deflects aside a twirling battleaxe, the massive two-headed weapon cutting deeply into the earth. Hearing a roar above him, Magnus shoots his head up to see the Bloodthirster falling towards him.

Dodging to the side, the Bloodthirster crushes the ground with his powerful fists and quickly rises up from his crouch, backhanding the Primarch away and pulling free his battleaxe. Not wasting a moment, he rushes up to Magnus and swings a cleaving strike as the Primarch barely avoids it and deflects the next one with his staff.

Succeeding in avoiding the next swing, Magnus grips his staff tightly jabs his weapon forward swiftly into the chest of the daemon, only this time he had been expected a move like that. The Bloodthirster took the strike without showing any hint of discomfort as he immediately swings his battleaxe into the human pyskers. Widening his eyes, Magnus only has a moment to cast a spell before the edge of the blade dug into his Centurion armor and sent him soaring in the air.

Crashing heavily into the ground and feeling his breath knocked out, he felt the impenetrable skin he managed to coat his armor in seep away as the control over it is released. Rising to his feet, he could see the incoming form of the Bloodthirster charging at him with his battleaxe held with both hands and using his wings to help propel himself faster, looking ready to tear his entrails out. Just as the daemon was halfway through, a loud screech catches all three's attention as high in the air, a flock of large birds, Jaerocs could be seen swooping towards them.

Each Jaeroc was a massive bird of a length fourteen meters from head to tail and eleven in height, not counting the wingspan of over eighteen meters. The feathers dotting the skin took the appearance of being made entirely out of iron while the talons and beak looked more like steel weapons than actual anatomy parts. Everything about the birds was normal except for some areas that were not normal. Foremost the anatomical appearance of the beak was that rather than one jaw, it had two jaws fused together that would give it two mouths as one with the middle one acting as a flexible tool. At the back of the beak, four eyes, a pair in each side of the head could be seen with black slits dominated the view. Trailing above the head and the spine were plumes of thin feathers while magnificent were in fact razor sharp, capable of slicing through titanium easily with just a brush.

The Jaerocs were hunters, and most certainly _hungry_.

The Bloodthirster roared in anger at the interruption and the taste of more blood for him to feast on. The Jaeroc reached him with its talons ready to ensnare him but he quickly jumped forward and struck his massive battleaxe into the beak of the warp bird. Agonizingly, the battleaxe easily sliced through the Jaeroc by using its own speed and the strength of its owner, the metal itself bloodily shrieking in joy at the metallic taste of blood. Finishing the cut, the great bird fell in halves with its entrails spilled on the ground and on the Bloodthirster as he roared victoriously.

Magnus rolled aside when a Jaeroc's talons dug deeply in the ground where he previously was. The Jaeroc lurched its head forward, its beak snapping at his head before he smacked the bottom jaw with his staff, closing it up while causing the upper part of the beak to swing up, exposing him its mouth. The Jaeroc quickly back off and flapped it wings forward, forcing Magnus to retreat as the sharp feathers drained his shields considerable.

Taking several steps back, he could feel the ground under him shake slightly until he noticed the ground he was currently standing on was about to collapse. Looking back at the Jaeroc leaping for him, he too jumps but backwards as the bird steps on the trembling ground.

The ground erupts as crooked legs sprout and clamp on the panicking Jaeroc as it thrashed violently in an attempt to escape. The creature that had caught it stubbornly refused to let go as it dragged its prey slowly in the hole it had made. The Jaeroc continued to screech in fear and thrash but ultimately, its actions were fruitless as it was finally dragged completely into the pit until only its cries were the only indication it was still there.

Looking uneasily at the fate of the lone Jaeroc, any feelings he would have felt for the bird were quickly dashed as he summoned a force barrier from a hail of doombolts as he whipped around and fired a barrage of lances from his hand at the Lord of Change.

The daemon battered the lances aside with his stave and fired beams of raw chaos energy at the Primarch. Another force barrier was summoned to absorb the blast wave but then Magnus quickly manipulated the barrier and redirected the beams straight back to the surprised Lord of Change.

The beams struck the Lord of Change violently and threw him back into the ground. Just before he could finish him off, he jumps aside as a large, strange limb crashes on the ground and interrupts him. Looking up, he sees a creature he doesn't recognize…probably due to the fact the Bloodthirster had been carving it up and currently had his battleaxe buried in the skull while pulling its unfortunate face apart with his bare hands.

Taking his eyes off the dying warp creature, he noticed the Lord of Change was still laying unmoved which seemed suspicious but wasn't going to waste this opportunity. Gathering his energy, he fired a single lance of raw order energy at the body but was suddenly intercepted. Turning to face the one who interfered, he stopped once he noticed two new Lord of Changes and a couple of Daemon Princes of all kinds arriving in their own transportations, all geared for fighting. In the distance, he could see a Great Unclean One and several Plaguebearers caring the injured Eerie Burrow worm while they cooed at it.

'_Now what would Father and Leman say in a moment like this…_'Magnus thought, _'oh right…fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucck.'_

Not about to let this group of circus fools get the better of him, he quickly casts the avenger spell and unleashes the wave of fire towards them. Many avoided the wave of death heading for them while a few proved too slow and were consumed, their cries of pleasure and joy echoing from the raging inferno.

Leaping forward and covering the distance between himself and the daemons, he reached the first one that showed allegiance to Chaos Undivided and proceeded to crush his face with his gauntlet followed with his staff bashing the fancy headdress it wore.

Running past the crumbling body, he swiftly swept out the legs of another Daemon Prince and backhand another before taking his staff and stabbing the butt of the weapon into the abdominal of the first Prince. Magnus suddenly felt someone collide with him from behind, throwing him off balance before he could right himself and kick him off.

Turning around to see who had the gall to attack like that he immediately froze, before him stood a Daemon Prince of Tzeentch, but it wasn't the appearance or who he served. It was how the soul pulsed and level of brightness in the warp that determined the species it came from and right it was telling he was looking at a former human, which would mean that he is a…**a…**

"_**TRAITOR!**_" Shouted Magnus as his face contorted from confusion to pure rage as he beheld the lowest scum he has seen.

The Daemon Prince quaked in surprise and fear as he watched powerful staff rip itself free from the body along with some chunks of entrails and into the hands of the seething Primarch. Magnus quickly spun the staff in his hands and held it behind him resting on his right palm, the weapon immediately burst in golden flames across the metal shaft and the golden eagle crackling in raw order energy.

"Anything to say _**traitor**__?"_ Growled out Magnus.

The _traitor_ Daemon Prince helplessly looked at his brothers for help but they all had stepped back to not interfere and watch the scene.

"No?" Inquired Magnus, which the Prince cautiously. "Well then…_**DIE TRAITOR!**_**"**

The last word left his mouth before he summoned Divine Pronouncement, causing the Daemon Prince to be struck with absolute fear as Magnus swung his flaming/crackling staff to bear. The action caused whips of flames to break off the handle and strike the paralyzed Prince as the spell Purgatus took a hold of his mind and tore it apart. A wordless scream left his twisted lips as he was presented the truth of his actions before Magnus finished him off with a deep thrust with the eagle in his chest and releasing the energy inside. Unstable cracks appeared all over his body as it failed to contain the massive buildup of energy and just as he was about to explode, Magnus quickly gripped the staff tighter and with a grunt, tossed the Daemon Prince high in the air where he watched him detonate in a spectacular explosion.

Turning to face the rest of the gathering Daemon Princes, he is instead greeted with dozens of energies collide with his shields and exploding. The force of the explosion sent him flying back and sliding across the ground and leaving a shallow trench in his wake. Acting fast, he took his staff and dug the butt in the ground, feeling his body twist from the unexpected force and overturn himself to his feet. He quickly had his left hand join the staff in the earth, each one leaving a long, clear imprint in the ground as he attempted to halt himself.

Feeling himself coming to halt, a force barrier was summoned instantly as tendrils scrapped across the solid energy. Rising to his feet, he felt some of bones 'pop' into place once he rolled his shoulders a few times. "Alright, I don't care what Father will tell me later." Magnus growled under his breath, "but play. Time. IS. **OVER!"**

Reaching deeply in his mind where he drew the powers of the warp from within, he unlocked the numerous seals that kept check over how much flowed in. With the seals disabled, a flood of raw order energy poured into his soul until he was brimming with it.

Gathering the power in him, he swung his staff and released a massive psychokinetic of a great magnitude blast, the land tearing itself apart from the pressure as it raced across the landmass and scattered the Princes.

Opening a hole in the warp, Magnus teleported himself into their midst and came upon a Daemon Prince of Khorne. The Prince screamed a blood cry and swung his great sword at the Primarch faster than the eye could see, the blade intercepted by the shaft of the staff and creating a powerful shockwave. Magnus was unfazed by this and pivoted his staff around the sword and struck the Blood Prince hard in the helmet, the ornate armor cracking under the blow.

Circling around the Prince he launched torrents of lightning arcs at two Bloated Princes, rending their insides with psychic energy. Cutting off the flow, he quickly ducked under the axe swing of another Blood Prince and retaliated with a sharp jab where the throat should be in this one. He whirled his staff around and slugged it at the face of the first Blood Prince before he could thrust his sword in Magnus's back.

Magnus then shoved his head back as another blade sliced through the empty air and swiftly kicked the abdominal of a third Blood Prince and followed with a solid wall of psychic, pushing the Blood Prince multiple steps back.

A shifting move of his staff deflected the incoming axe of the second Blood Prince and used the collision force to rotate his stance and redirect several doombolts to the first Blood Prince, knocking him off his paws while the blood runes of Khorne shielded him from the sorcery.

Having an opening, Magnus leaped forward and crashed into the third Blood Prince, forcing the daemon to take several steps back. Moving fast, he quickly uppercut the Blood Prince and followed with a firm punch in the abdominal. Momentarily dazed, the Blood Prince failed to stop Magnus from shoving him to the side and shield himself when a tendril of raw chaos crack violently across his face.

The blow threw the Blood Prince off his feet coupled with Magnus sweeping his legs also before he shoved his staff into his face and blew the daemon several levels deep underground.

He quickly opens up another hole in the warp and enters it in time as beams raze the empty spot. Clearing out of the exit hole away from his last position, he runs into two surprised Sorcerer Princes and proceeds to bash the face of the first with his staff and summon a wall of earth to separate the other.

In a blink he quickly grasps the face of the first and violently smashes his ever-changing face into the solid body of soil and stone (all ethereal of course). The motion carried enough force behind it that the Sorcerer Prince's face managed to break through to the other side of the wall for his shocked companion to see. Not finishing there, Magnus flicked his wrist downwards and the wall swiftly slams down on the second Sorcerer Prince with the first still attached to it.

A force barrier is summoned as barrages of lances and beams crash into it and is countered with Magnus swing his staff in a downward strike, causing a warp current to break free from its pathway. The current goes forth with sweeping many of the Daemon Princes off their feet or in some cases, seizing them outright and hauling them off into the currents.

Just as he was about to fire off another psychokinetic blast, an air-rattling moan vibrates deeply in the warp atmosphere as Magnus turns sharply to the origin and feels some of his blood leave his face. Approaching the landmass was the colossal form of a Magorath, a whale-like creature and one of the largest airborne in the Immaterium but it was not the creature that worried him but what was _on_ it.

Large gashes and wounds covered its body with most of them bleeding large quantities of blood and other areas where the flesh had been ripped open forcefully, exposing the insides. Where a pair of large eyes would be found on each side of the head were instead pierced with massive, jagged chains that were aggressively tearing open the eyes whenever they were pulled.

And holding these very chains was Skarbrand the Exiled One, greatest of all Bloodthirsters in existence and accompanied with his legion of exiled daemons followers, the Blood Truths.

Howling a blood cry upon laying sight on the battlefield, he violently pulled on the chains held in his left hand, nearly ripping the chains from the eyes of the Magorath as it wallowed in agony but nonetheless moved in the intended direction. Reaching the landmass, the great beast landed with an earth-shattering crash through the ground as it slowly came to a halt.

Taking a few great steps forward, Skarbrand let himself slide down the rostrum of the whale-like creature while dragging the chains with him. Before he could reach the ground, the length of the chains were beginning to reach their end line and would've halted his fall, but he other ideas. Just before the chains could snap him back, he heaved his arms forward with his strength.

Loud 'squelch' sounds resonated in the air as the eyes of the Magorath were ripped free from their sockets and rivers of blood began pouring uncontrollably from them. Frenzied roars left the hundreds of throats belonging to the Blood Truths as they all slide down the bleeding body of the dying beast, each them using their weapons or sharp claws to control their fall, directly causing more injury to the Magorath and a greater flow of blood.

Detaching both of his legendary battleaxes from his back, he marched up to the fading Magorath and with one swoop, slashed the skull free from the vertebra as easily as one can cut a leaf from a tree. A flood of blood the likes Magnus has ever seen and capable of filling entire oceans of worlds, poured from the wound like a hose.

Stabbing his staff into the ground, a dome materialized in time to shield him from the torrent of blood sweeping across the land and drowning those who failed to escape as it swallowed everything in its path.

Reinforcing the barrier, he felt the blood crash into it with a stone-shattering blow as the energy fibers bent under the pressure but nonetheless held. The smell of burning flesh invaded through his helmet's grille before his armor's filter systems immediately kicked in and cut it off. Gazing around, he could see the blood of the Magorath slowly corroding through his barrier until drops of it were steadily dripping in.

Taking his staff with both hands, he lifted it at eye-level and poured energy into it until it became a burning halo of fire. Satisfied with his result, Magnus gripped his weapon tighter and smashed the butt of it into the ground. A golden ring erupts and expands from the staff and collides with the blood, driving it away from him as the landmass is cleaned of its taint.

A roar sounds above him as he quickly jumps aside, narrowly missing a battleaxe separating his left arm from his body. Rolling to his feet, he thrusts his staff forward and fires a single, razor-thin lance at Skarbrand.

Reacting with lightning speed, he deflected the lance with his left battleaxe and swung his right one in a crescent arc at Magnus. Shifting his stance, he pivoted his head to the right as the blade scratched his shields and retaliated with his staff twisting up and striking his chest.

The blow barely registered to Skarbrand before Magnus followed with a sharp swing into the head and his boot stomping the ground. A thick wall of earth rose from ground and slammed into the great Bloodthirster without any attempt to shield himself.

Moving several steps back, Magnus watched as something sharp sliced upwards through the wall in a diagonal swing before it exploded outwards from a powerful fist. Charging through the falling debris, Skarbrand lifted both battleaxes above his head and swung them down at the Primarch's head.

Pouring his will into the warp, Magnus opened a hole and disappeared in it as the daemonic weapons struck the ground instead, carving deeply a new gorge in the landmass. Pausing for a moment, Skarbrand stood at full height and sniffed the twisted air through his blood-crusted nostrils. He suddenly then spun around one-eighty degrees and cocked his right arm back, throwing the battleaxe into the air.

Exiting from the warp hole, Magnus had a few seconds of respite before twisting his body around and grunting as the battleaxe shattered his shields and cut through several centimeters of his armor. Stumbling back, he tried regaining his bearings but was quickly interrupted with Skarbrand body slamming him to the ground in a tremendous crash and swinging his remaining battleaxe at his face.

Widening his eyes, Magnus swiftly brought his staff forward and blocked the shaft of the battleaxe, the blade only a hair-breaths away from splitting his helmet and head in half. Skarbrand growled at the Primarch and placed more pressure on his battleaxe. The blade head steadily moved closer to Magnus, the shields collapsing from the raw power and the shrieks of the weapon became louder to his ears until not even his helmet could block it.

Before the battleaxe could uncomfortably get any closer to his face, the surrounding warp suddenly pulsed brightly in flakes of lighter color and the currents unexpectedly calmed down from their turbulent condition.

Skarbrand flinched from change in the atmosphere along with the rest of his Blood Truths and tightened the grip he had on his battleaxes. Snarling in pure hatred, he spun around and stared intently in the warp where the currents were at their calmest and barked commands at his legion in his savage tongue.

Magnus sat up and blinked in confusion at the new feeling before a sharp grin appeared under his helmet once he recognized who it belonged to and lifted his head in the same direction with everyone else.

"Father…"

A large golden ray broke through the kaleidoscope of the warp and touched the landmass, boiling the skin of any daemon caught under its gaze and forcing the rest to wisely back off. Skarbrand meanwhile marched up towards the edge of the ray and halted, staring deeply where it was originating from and suddenly roared loudly. The action is quickly mimicked by the Blood Truths and any other blood daemons in the vicinity.

A swirling beam of metallic gold raced through the ray and crashed into the landmass, pushing back everyone from it. Having reached the ground, the beam spun faster and the radiance emitting from it became brighter until darkened figures at the bottom began taking shape.

Without warning, the beam suddenly exploded in a thunderous boom and launched everyone who was not secured in the air away from the center point. Feeling his back slam into a stone formation, Magnus huffed in displeasure as he pulled himself loose and returned his gaze back to where the beam was fading away.

Standing taller than any human in existence, the God-Emperor of Mankind stood ablaze before a contingent of Custodian Companions surrounding him, all radiating power and valor.

Decked out in the finest gold-plated, most advanced adamantium power armor the Imperium could forge in their armories, the Emperor held himself with the grace of an aspect god of war. The armor itself was streamlined and well-rounded to be worn like a second skin and very light. Impressive pauldrons sat on his shoulders, each one inscribed with the facial expression of screaming eagles ready to strike prey. The chest plate had been further decorated with the Imperial symbol, the Aquila and the threatening posture of an eagle to serve as the last image enemies of man will see before death claims them. The greaves and vambrace remained smooth and untouched, the poleyn were however shaped as human skulls and the vulnerable areas of the area were each respectively protected by flexible links of metal feathers. Above the neck guard of his armor, a magnificent helmet sat upon his head with a Y-shaped visor and a metal laurel wreath attached above his brow. Clipped to his back, an impressive crimson cape bellowed behind him without any indication of wind present to blow it.

On his left gauntlet, menacing lightning claws built to mimic the human hand crackled in energy in preparation. On his right hand, a great sword tempered with the heat of a sun was held threatening. The blade was etched with countless powerful runes and glyphs and the edges sharpened down to a monomolecular level capable of rendering celestials to pieces.

The Companion Guards around wore a lesser, decorated armor design to their Emperor but came geared with helmets equipped with eye slits and crests holding long, red plums of hair. Each one was armed with their iconic Guardian Spears and plasma pistols to their sides.

A hollow silence enveloped the field as both sides stood in a stand-off with only the restless growls and guttering rasps of the blood daemons being the only indicator of life in the battlefield.

Without warning, one of the nearest Bloodletter's patience thinned out and he swiftly charged at the array of golden warriors. Movement aroused within the Companions in response as one of their members stepped forward and with high levels of proficiency, hurled his spear directly into the heart of the lone daemon with extreme accuracy. Then all hell broke loose…quite literally.

The Emperor rushed forward and swung his now-enflamed sword at Skarbrand while his Guards fired off a barrage of energy lances from their blades into the ranks of the Blood Truths as they charged in. Despite the accuracy of these shots, only the daemons of the Blood Truths skillfully avoided the shots while the rest perished to the firepower.

Knowing it would be ineffective, the Companions ceased firing and instead leaped into the midst of the Blood Truths as their blades crackled with power. Striking head-on, the Companions expertly weaved through the ranks of blood daemons, their Guardian spears whirling in arcs of death as each swing left behind a severe injury or intercepted a lethal blow.

Even with such injuries, the Blood Truths were however far stronger than most daemons of Khorne and easily shrugged off these attacks and continued fighting heedless of the mounting injuries appearing across their bodies. They were all ancient veterans of countless ages of wars: they weren't about to let some human super-elites bring them down with "paper cuts".

The Companions were not fazed by the apparent invincibility of their opponents; each one had been trained under the tutelage of the Emperor himself as they were his first and carried his blood in their veins. Each one had squared with him in a battle and survived to become his guards.

They simply needed to fight _harder_ against these opponents.

Magnus meanwhile had to jump aside as Skarbrand slammed into the rock formation behind him and was quickly followed by his father appearing before the daemon instantly with the power claw bashing his face. The cliff was quickly transformed into a new canyon as the greater daemon burrowed through the land for many kilometers.

The Emperor straightened his back and looked to his son. "…Magnus."

Rubbing the back of his neck, Magnus felt a little awkward in this situation. The tone of the voice spoke volumes of trouble he was in for. "Eh…hello father."

The Emperor registered his son's response in time before he stabbed his sword in the ground and whipped up his arm. A spinning daemonic battleaxe was caught easily in his palm and casually crushed the shrieking tool with a grip of his hand and its soul extinguished. With no indication of acknowledging what he just destroyed, he quickly pulled out his sword and resumed his previous posture. "What I have I told you before?"

Nothing came out of Magnus's throat after seeing the initial display of his father's might.

"We'll talk of this later." The Emperor finished. Turning around, he opened a portal and entered it. _~And close that portal like you had been planning son~_

Widening his eye in realization, Magnus spun streams of curses in eight separate tongues as he quickly rose to his feet and raced to where the Eerie laid. He really had his work cut out.

* * *

"Double time men!" Shouted the Veteran Sergeant to his charges as they swiftly ran through the maze of hallways and corridors marked in their HUDs. The walls around them were shaking violently as muffled racket of blows and explosions were tearing through the fused ships of the space hulk.

Rushing around the corner, they halted before a pair of sealed doors barring them from their destination. "Randall, now!"

Obeyed the order, one of the men swung his rifle to his back and removed an oval-shaped object from his pouch, placing it in the center. Pressing several runes on the surface, the device flashed to light with a stream of numerals and four prongs extending from it and burying into the door's frame. Pressing one last rune, a red light blinked in conformation before the man quickly retreated back and join his team.

The device flashed the red light four times before a permanent one was lit. It suddenly then detonated in a deafening explosion, causing a man-size hole to be formed.

Stepping through the hole, the men found themselves in a vast hallway filled with numerous rails on different elevations, some holding hollowed corpses of alien locomotives. Without a word, the men began taking up positions on the platform they stood and cautiously watched the section of a wall that had been marked as _++IMMINENT BREACH++_. All while the hidden fighting was becoming closer and louder to the men.

Across the hallway, similar actions were taking place as more squads of Imperial soldiers entered the room and took position in general direction, as though they were expecting for something to show up.

Their expectations were quickly justified as the wall buckled in a spectacular fashion as the body of Kal'niari sailed through it and crashed on a rail. The structure groaned under the weight of the Greater Daemon but still nonetheless held. The display was soon followed up with a Mordûr Demon materializing from underneath a higher rail above and slamming his axe into his foe.

A barrier flashed between Kal'niari and the axe, shielding him from the devastating effect of the weapon. The power behind the blade however proved too much for the rail to handle and snapped in half, causing both entities to fall and crash through several more before coming to halt on stable ones.

"FIRE!" rang a voice from the ranks of Imperial soldiers and as one, dozens of weapons opened fire at their targets.

Garzûlg snarled in frustration as bolt rounds scratched away his armor and las-fire singed the surface. Jumping to his feet, he swiftly twirled his axe and battered aside two projectiles, forcing them into new directions to hit something else. Before he could take a step forward, a metallic tentacle swung from under the rail and wrapped around his right leg.

He barely managed to spare a glance before he was pulled down and slammed underneath the rail by Kal'niari and released to fall on top of another.

Recovering, Garzûlg faded into the shadows as vibrant bolts struck the empty positions and warped the rail. Leaping from the shadow of a nearby rail, he pivoted his head to the side as a projectile streamed past and threw his axe spinning towards the hanging Remembrance. Kal'niari reacted with a burst of speed and scuttled underneath the rail as the weapon cleanly cut through the structure. Still spinning, the axe arced across the hallway and smashed through a platform, spilling the Imperials on it into the air.

Several weapon firing stopped as their owners took priority of saving their endangered comrades, requiring their concentration to cushion the fall with psionics. The rest began spreading across the hallway to minimize the casualties. One heavy Imperial soldier aimed a large barrel weapon and fired a fast projectile at Garzûlg who in turn, responded by spinning around and back slapping the warhead into another rail.

Looking behind him, Garzûlg turned around and gripped tightly on a locomotive laying unused, his muscles bulging at lifting the heavy machinery. With a growl, he spun around several times and with a grunt, launched the machine towards Kal'niari.

Seeing the machine coming for him, his claws crackled in power as he slapped them together. A jagged beam of energy erupts from the slap and strikes the locomotive missile, obliterating it. Immediately another section of the locomotive flies through the cloud of smoke and strikes him directly. A wheezing screech leaves his mandibles as the protective barrier collapses before machinery and causes him to loose grip below the rail.

Freefalling, Kal'niari became too focused to where he would land than to watch his surroundings. Out of nowhere from behind, he is quickly overcome by Garzûlg's axe finally returning back to its owner with him in its path. An ear-splitting screech of pain leaves his throat as the axe severed two of his legs and slashed his abdominal. With thunderous crash, Kal'niari broke through a rail as two missiles from the Imperials exploded on him and scattered him unto another.

Lifting his arm in the air, Garzûlg lazily caught his spinning axe by the shaft while continuing to ignore the peppering shots of the Imperials. He was going to end this daemon here and now.

**…..**

Approaching the still body of the Eerie Burrow, Magnus quickly cast a filtering barrier as the overwhelming stench and rot of the Great Unclean One daemon enveloped him. Moving fast, his left gauntlet crackled in power as he swung it in a wide arc, plastering many of the Plaguebearers into rotten paste and creating an opening for him.

Sensing his intent, the Great Unclean One clumsily lifted his massive, rusted Plague Sword and swung it at Magnus. He easily dodged the slow attack and followed up with the butt of his staff crushing the sword arm, causing spurts of black bile to spill out from the wound. Spinning around faster than the daemon could see, Magnus slashed the throat of the Great Unclean One and severing the spine at the same time.

Leaving behind the temporally paralyzed greater daemon, Magnus rushed to the Eerie and thrusted his staff high above his head. A vortex formed quickly in the vast crimson sky of the warp as it crackled with vast amount of power contained in the center.

"THE END COMES!" Shouted Magnus as be brought down his staff and a colossal lightning bolt shot from the center and struck the Eerie. The worm let loose a shrill shriek from the intensive agony the bolt delivered as it scorched away its hardened chitin and cooked its insides.

**[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]**

Jonson twisted around and swung his sword in a broad sweep, slashing two humanoids in chests and abruptly pivoted to the side as several crystalline shards whipped past the empty air.

Shifting his stance with a twist of his right leg, he raised his blade up to chest-level and shattered more of the shards across the shielded fuller and using the momentum, swept the blade to the left until the edge collided with the flat side of a short sword.

Jonson pivoted the point of his sword upwards and redirected blade of the sword away and then rotated the grip of his to intercept another short sword from slashing his left vambrace. The disruptive fields of both weapons flared to life as each tried to overwhelm the other.

The humanoid wearing sinister ancient armor ducked back as the edge of the Lion sword missed cutting its helmet to two-thirds its original size before rapidly retaliating with a quick vertical thrust using a barbed single-edged, short sword. Jonson saw this coming and pulled his sword back to catch the central ridge of it with the flat side of his blade.

Shoving his sword forward, he spun around and cleaved a humanoid in two and deflected an under thrust from another. He then twisted around and swung his left gauntlet, snapping the neck of a humanoid. Before he could bring his sword about to slash another one, a vibrating deep beat echoes through the room and sends cold shivers in every living thing's mind.

Sharply turning towards the resting place of the warp rift, Jonson could see the tear convulsing and collapsing as the bridge link keeping it together was no longer supporting it. With a final, psychic scream that jarred the minds of those nearby, the rift imploded.

The moment the rift disappeared, Jonson and many others felt the thick blanket over their psionic senses finally disappear and their influence increase tenfold over the battle.

It now became a _slaughter_ for their opponents.

Jonson thrusted his left palm forward and unleashed arcs of lightning that struck several of the humanoids before him, causing them to scream and violently explode in showers of gore. The sinister armored one however managed to survive with a hand over a hole in its abdominal and tried backing off.

Around him, Jonson could hear the Scarab Occult doing their work as inhuman screams and otherworldly sounds filled the air while approaching the retreating foe. Not hesitating, he laid his gauntlet flat and stabbed it harshly into the injury of the humanoid. A wordless scream leaves the helmet of the xeno as Jonson emotionlessly clenches his hand and violently pulls it out filled with entrails and organs ripped free. In a mercilessly action, he crushes them in his hand and tosses them aside without a second thought. Staring wordlessly, the humanoid's mind finally registered the fact it shouldn't be alive and promptly crumpled to the floor.

Looking upon his defeated foe for several seconds to ensure it was truly dead, he turned away and walked back to where the majority of the Spartans were gathering. Several of his Darkwing Astartes rushed towards and quickly had him surrounded in a loose circle with one, Veteran Tabris approach him. "My Primarch, are you injured?"

"No I have not been harmed." Jonson responded while inspecting the condition of his men. "If the xenos wish to harm me, they'll have to work on their speed. What are our casualties?"

Tabris took a deep breath and listed it to his Primarch, "we have now made contact we the surviving forces in this installation and are counting the tally." He brought his hands to his helmet and with a mechanical hiss, took it off. "Nearly all of Agente Ravenor's HDST force has been wiped out and the Black Dragons have lost over a squad's worth of men. Our own forces of suffered over twenty-eight Spartans and six of your Guard are no more. The Scarab Occult have lost less than a third of their own: the enemy had been intensively targeting them over everyone else. The Jericho Regiment accompanying us had nearly been wiped out to the last man, only two hundred still live. Whoever these xenos were, they were well prepared for us."

Jonson swore under his breath at the casualties they sustained in this battle. It will be decades if not centuries for these numbers to be properly replaced. Before he could comment on this further, an electrical resonance sparks behind him and causes the Spartans nearest to him raise their weapons quickly.

Swiftly spinning around, he sees humanoid stand over the corpse of the sinister armored one and throw down a device to the floor. An energy field immediately springs to life and deflects away many plasma bolts and psionic strikes as it ripped free a crimson gemstone from the chest of the body. Just as Jonson drew his sword out and hurled it at the humanoid, its form begins to waiver and suddenly flash in an electrical display from existence before it could be impaled.

The spot was immediately filled with Deathwing Guards searching for any more hidden enemies that could pop up. Jonson meanwhile marched up to the corpse and stared intently at it while the body began degrading apart, his mind running with possible scenarios of what he witnessed.

**[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[+]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]**

Feeling his healing properties taking a heavy toll on his strength, Kal'niari suddenly felt a brief opening between the Materium and Immaterium before a flood of energy exploded out like rushing water signifying the collapse of the gateway.

He quickly latched onto the leftover energy and began drawing it within him, planning on using it for one more trick he had against the demon. He could sense the perfect target to connect with even though he was fighting a much more dangerous opponent than he could handle. But tough decisions had to be made.

Gathering the energy, Kal'niari took his right claw and lightly scratch a tiny scroll barely visible on his torso and began weaving his claws before him. Soon, glyphs were materializing in swirls of colors with some attaching to his skin and others vanishing in the air.

Garzûlg froze mid-step upon recognizing the type of spell being utilized and shifted into the shadows to reach his target for the killing blow as quickly as possible.

**…..**

The Emperor parried Skarbrand's battleaxe, creating small shockwaves each time their blades collided with one another as they fought underneath a landmass. He quickly followed with his power claw deflecting an overhand cut and swung his sword in a crescent arc cut.

Skarbrand dodged the attack and twisted around with a broad sweep of his right battleaxe which was intercepted with the flat fuller of the Emperor's sword. That proved a feint as he followed swiftly with his left in an underhand cut at the exposed left flank.

The Emperor narrowly pivoted around the battleaxe and seized the Bloodthirster with his claw digging into chest and pulled him overhead and straight into the ground behind. Smashing the upper body of Skarbrand into the ground, cracks as large as canyons form in the wake of the force of the impact.

Pushing him deeper into the hole, the Emperor shifted the grip of his sword and thrusted the blade forward. Sensing imminent danger, Skarbrand crossed his battleaxes in an x-strike, forcing the Emperor to pivot his sword lower and intercept the attack from hacking his right leg.

Twisting his body to an unnatural angle, Skarbrand managed to free himself from the Emperor's grip and violently respond with a viscous side-underhand slash that tore the earth around the battleaxe to shreds.

Dodging back, the Emperor struck the ground with the point of the blade and the earth beneath Skarbrand exploded, sending the Bloodthirster into the air below before a current caught him and smashed him into the ground. Skarbrand however quickly recovered from the crash and broke his way free in a rage-induced frenzy.

Before he could take several steps forward, he paused for a moment as strange feelings welled up on his armor and looked down to see unknown glyphs forming there.

The Emperor however, immediately recognized the meaning of the glyphs and their purpose. He could not allow the ritual to be completed or things would _really_ go downhill.

With a blurry motion, the Emperor raised his sword and thrusted it forward at Skarbrand's chest. But before the blade could pierce the bronze armor, the glyphs glowed in variety of colors and immediately sank into the armor. Doubling his speed, the Emperor made a last forward thrust as Skarbrand was surrounded by kaleidoscope swirls and obscured him from view.

**…..**

Garzûlg materialized into existent and swung his blazing axe straight for Kal'niari as his body was surrounded by vivid light and flashed.

**…..**

A sickening squelch resonates as the Emperor's blade impales the chest of the greater daemon.

**…..**

A thunderous crash shakes the air as Garzûlg's axe strikes the daemon in the chest and collapses the rail underneath him. Flaring out his tattered wings for stability, he spares a glance at the falling debris before a projectile explodes at the right side of his face and snarls in frustration.

Before he could shred these insignificant mortals apart, a blood-roar thunders from the dust below and a large battleaxe spins towards him. Pulling off a sharp right turn, he narrowly avoided the bleeding blade head as it cleaved cleanly through two rails and several humans caught in its path.

Tucking his wings, Garzûlg let himself crash on a low rail, the structure groaning under pressure and showing signs of slight cracks. Holding his axe steady, he cautiously tracked the dust as it began settling until a hazy form appeared and expanded what looked like shredded wings.

Upon seeing the state of the wings, a hollow growl left his throat as he identified the owner of such limbs. His assumption was quickly confirmed once the dust faded and Skarbrand the Exile was introduced to the Realm of Transience.

**…..**

The Emperor furrowed his brows at the view of a Remembrance of Time housing his blade in his chest instead of that of a particular Bloodthirster. Not wanting to waste time, he ripped the sword free from the daemon's chest and swiftly swung it in an upper vertical strike that severed the head from the shoulders. He then followed with a brutal horizontal slash that opened the chest to the outside elements of the Immaterium. The entire action lasted less than a two seconds.

Leaving behind the remains to dissipate in the currents, he jumped from the bottom of the landmass and twisted his body around until his boots were pointing below (above?). Letting the energy flow through his veins, he landed in the center of the battle and slammed the palm of his left hand on the ground.

The grounded exploded in a brilliance of light as daemons were tossed in the air and skewered with golden lances too quickly for them to react. The Emperor then thrusted his sword forward and unleashed a wide psychokinetic blast, blowing away the Blood Truths off the landmass.

The Companion Guards snap in silent attention as their Emperor marches through their ranks and approaches Magnus.

"Father, what happen-" He gets cut off with a shaking head.

"Skarbrand unwittingly left from the Immaterium and entered the Materium by the machinations of a Remembrance. I've dealt with the latter but the former must be taken care of."

Magnus nodded his head in acknowledgment. "Right, we'll crush him together." Before he could step away, a gauntlet claw gently gripped his shoulder.

"No you won't son, as powerful as you are, you won't last long against this ancient greater daemon whose strength is on par with a lesser god. Get to your brother and evacuate him and everyone else on the planet, I cannot afford casualties."

Magnus was surprised with what his father told him but nonetheless knew better than to argue with him and before he left, he suddenly remembered something important. "I almost forgot to tell you this but Victoria is there."

The Emperor paused for a moment as he removed his hand from Magnus's shoulder and looked back at him. "Your sister is there?" A nod is given. "Positive?" Magnus sighed exasperated at the last question.

"Yes Father, I'm most certain I can recognize my own sister in a crowd of women that stand slightly shorter than her and are less decorated than her." He responded dryly.

"Then see to it that she is safe until I have a little chat with her. Rejoin you brother in the meantime Magnus. I will handle the daemon infestation." Knowing what his father wanted him to do, he thrusted a hand behind him and opened a portal. Similar to the rift, the portal opened in crackling energies and vibrant colors (with ethereal screams) courtesy of its nature but Magnus didn't care about the details. Giving the Emperor one last look, he stepped into the portal and vanished.

Watching his son leave the Warp, the Emperor summoned all of his Companion Guards with him and opened a rift, this time composed of calmer energies and shaped in gold. Without a word, the entire group swiftly entered the breach of reality and left the chaotic silence of the Formless Waste. None of them wishing to linger any longer than necessary and attract unwanted attention from certain…things that are better left unsaid.

Unfortunately for them, pairs of eyes had been watching them the entire time since the battle began and once they their target left, retreated to report to their masters of what they had seen.

**…..**

The Emperor stood with several of his Companions on one of the vast plains covering Curwen as he gazed deeply at the orbit of the world where the space hulk floated uncontested. Taking his sword out, he spun it until the blade pointed downwards and stabbed it into the ground.

Steadily in a trance, he raised his power claw to the air with the palm facing the sky and the digits spread out. Golden energy soon began weaving across the gauntlet as his other hand moved in patterns akin to that of a dance and fueled the power. The energy continued to thicken and brighten as the strength behind it increased until his limb was encased in crackling energy.

Holding tightly on the quantity of power in his palm, the Emperor forced his hand into a fist, pressuring the energy until amber sparks were spitting out of the cracks of the prison. With a deep grunt, he thrusted his hand forward and fired the orb of crackling energy into the atmosphere.

Traveling faster than speed of sound by a magnitude of three tiers, the orb easily broke through the gravity of the planet and struck one of the welded undersides of the massive space hulk. Sinking into the fused hulls compromising the structure, the great beast initially gave no signs of effect from the attack as minutes passed without results.

Before it could look as though blow failed to accomplish anything, deep resounding groans began cropping from small areas of the space hulk and steadily grew louder and heavier until the entire structure was flowing with the sounds of metal bending in its vast hallways.

The Emperor then pulled his left hand back in a clenched fist and made a twisting sign with the other.

The space hulk lurched forward without warning as beams and frames were suddenly torn apart from their emplacements and the plates forming the bulkheads twisting until they snapped to pieces. The massive ship began keeling over towards the planet as entire decks broke free from their fused prisons and collapsed apart. Accompanying the scene were the silent tumbling bodies of hundreds of Imperials screaming as they desperately tried to latch onto something safe as their voices were drowned under the tearing of metal.

Kneading his eyebrows together, the Emperor lifted his left hand above his head with the palm facing downwards and shifted the flow of energy.

The silent screams in the void quickly ceased as transparent, crackling blue energies converged around the men and transported them from their doom.

Around him, hundreds of blue energies sparkled to existent as men were gently placed on solid earth and far away from the unforgiving coldness of the void. Men either gripped the ground tightly, refusing to let go of their safety while others jumped to their feet and patted themselves in relief once finding all their body parts accounted for.

The Emperor patiently waited for the men to get over their reassurance before some of them began sensing a soothing and powerful aura close to them.

The nearest to him turned around in curiosity and yelped in recognition before settling with his head bowed and his right fist thudding on his left breast, "My Emperor!" The action was quickly followed with hundreds of men standing a full attention and countless thumps as gauntlets connected with the armored chest pieces and repeating the mantra in the air with respect.

The Emperor returned the respect with a small bow of his own helmet, "Which one of you carries the highest rank amongst your numbers?"

The soldiers turned to one another as they communicated in the neural-link before an Imperial marine wearing the standard Crysis power armor except for the noticeable double gold bars etched in the right pauldron and a steel crest mounted longitudinally on the helmet denoting his rank as a High Captain. "I stand as the highest ranking officer left alive my Emperor. The others have passed into the Seraphic Fields of Valaris during combat."

"That is unfortunate High Captain but nonetheless, what is the fighting condition of your men?" The Emperor inquired.

The High Captain removed a hilt from his belt and activated it, trigger the device to release a thick sheet of metal from the base and expand into a solid blade, "we stand ready to continue fighting regardless of our current condition." The blade crackled in blue corona as energy sheathed the metal and turned it into a deadly weapon of war.

"Very well then High Captain, there is a surviving position held by two of my sons and they require reinforcements and yours stand as the closest. Some of my Guard will accompany you to ensure you are assisted. In the meantime, I will _deal_ with the interlopers," growling out the last word.

The High Captain bowed his head in understanding, "my Emperor, I must warn you however these interlopers are a Greater Daemon of the Blood God and a Mordûr Demon of Destruction."

"There is little for you to worry for me. I'm very well aware of their identities and plan to give them a proper _greeting_…in the old fashion way our people are more familiar with."

"Good luck my Emperor and the Skylight Stars guard you." The High Captain spoke and 'thump' his right fist over his left breast mimicked by the rest of the gathered men.

"As they guard you and the rest." He returned to them. With a gentle wave of his right hand, the men and the selected Companions were quickly surrounded with crackling energies of psionics and teleported from the area.

"Constantin Valdor, take the rest of the Companions and ensure that none interfere with the battle."

The Companion Guard standing on his right respectively nodded his head, "as you wish my Emperor." With a subtle motion of his head, the rest of the Companions followed his lead and left their emperor to his devices.

Waiting until he could sense them from a safe distance, he once more raised his left gauntlet to towards the sky and pulled back. The entire 'bow' of the space hulk cracked silently in the void as it broke free of the amidships and tumbled into the atmosphere. The rest of the hulk shortly followed with a sharp clench of the Emperor's right fist, the countless bulkheads composing the mass of the ship collapsing one after another like a deck of royal cards.

The Emperor continued to drag the massive hulk into the atmosphere of Curwen as it continued to break apart into smaller sections and lighting them all once they passed the mesosphere layer.

Before the large fragments of the once mighty space hulk could collide into the surface of Curwen, the Emperor switched his left hand to a stop motion sign and the massive fragments halted in the air. With a simple clench, the fragments were released and crashed safely.

Wrenching his sword free from the earth, the Emperor marched to the wreckage and stopped around a kilometer away. **"Komdu og andlit mér hrygnir glundroða og myrkurs! Þú þora að slá inn lénið mitt og skaðað fólk mitt! Berjast mig ef þú hefur einhverjar heiður eða fela eins bleyður!"**** The ground before him shredded apart from the impact of his voice as each word of the ancient human tongue was laced with power and completely overwhelming to anything, not of human nature caught in its path. **"Ég er keisari mannkyns, Warden af Terra! Legionnaire af þúsund raddir, afkomandi af the avatar Guðir og anathema!"****

The last word had barely left his lips before the hull of a two fused alien ships exploded in a shower of scrap and Skarbrand crashing into the ground a few hundred meters from his position, the twin battleaxes dripping in human blood. Rising to a full stature, the greater daemon towered over the human and let loose a heavily distorted growl. **"Bärzo guœzk ne sżho alz-huư vackti seyz dwȩ!? Fye hiar-ye xvȫn sculla uɋ Khorne gdar!"*****

To the left of his peripheral vision, the Emperor could see the Mordûr Demon materialize from the shadows of the wreckage. Words were not exchanged between the two as both stared down one another until the demon slightly raised the head of the ax pointing towards the Emperor.

The Emperor exploded in action as he launched volleys of golden lances at him and leaped towards Skarbrand. Garzûlg quickly shifted into the shadows, letting the lances shred the hull behind him instead while the Emperor body-slammed Skarbrand before he could react in time for a counter.

Moving swiftly, the Emperor picked up the daemon and brutally slammed him into the ground several meters deep and creating a small quake. Pivoting around to his right, he swung his flaming sword to the back and bind his blade with Garzûlg's.

Garzûlg curved the head of his axe and slid it across the fuller and executed a short slash. The Emperor jerked his head back as the blade sliced empty air and shifted his left shoulder forward and made an overhand cut to the chest. He mimicked the action in the opposite and swiped his axe in an underhand cut, but the Emperor anticipated this and intercepted with the flat edge of his blade and slashed the helmet with his power claws.

The claws succeeded in only scratching shallow furrows in the metal and Garzûlg retaliated with a swift jab of his right elbow.

Feeling the blow rack his helmet, the Emperor leaned back to place a distance and held his sword in the 'Pflug' position with his right foot back as he gauged his opponent.

Cracking his neck, Garzûlg held his axe steady in a technique he recognized similar to the "roof" guard as he too carefully watched his opponent. Their brief moment of peace was bloodily ruined by Skarbrand erupting from his hole with a frenzied, murderous look on his face caked with dirt.

The Emperor side-stepped the attack and cross-guarded the shaft of the battleaxe before switching the grip on the hilt and swiveling the blade into a plunging cut. Skarbrand retaliated with the rotating of his other battleaxe and hooking the central ridge of the sword away from his chest. Shifting tactics, the Emperor pushed his left foot back and pulled his right in and launched it forward.

The golden armored boot crunched the bronze abdominal plate and drove the daemon back to his knees. Stepping forward, the Emperor thrusted his power claw to his right and annihilated a hull piece tossed at him with a burst of power. He quickly executed a back flip in the air as a whizzing sound crossed the vacant spot and landed with a shorthand cut from the head.

Garzûlg parried the edge of the blade with the metal shaft and pushed down the head of the axe towards the sword-hand. The Emperor twisted the hilt of his sword and intercepted with the cross-guard, letting his weapon loosen to create an upper opening before spinning the grip of the hilt under and placing himself behind the axe.

Moving quickly, he rammed his right elbow into the thick throat of Garzûlg and followed with a long slash of his claws, driving him back. Moving his sword to a shifting cut strike, he brought it into a long underhand cut and slashed the chest piece with the point of the blade.

Shifting back, Garzûlg snarled in anger and lunged forward with the axe held with both hands for a cut from above the head. A roar erupts from the Emperor's left and he quickly responds to it with both hands gripping the hilt and fuller of the sword, thrusting the weapon and himself at the direction. He catches Skarbrand's right battleaxe below the central ridge of his blade and use the momentum push to wheel the rest of the sword and smack aside the left battleaxe with the rain-guard. Through his own thrust, the Emperor aligned the pommel of the hilt and smashed it directly into Skarbrand's face, snapping the head back.

Not pausing for moment, the Emperor immediately spun around the greater daemon in time as multiple onyx shards pierced the bronze armor in dozens of areas and dematerialized into the openings. Subtle jerks began erupting across Skarbrand's body before a wave of black matter struck him and catapulted him back at the Emperor.

Leaping to the side, he delivered a diagonal mid-swipe to Skarbrand's right side of the waist and laid open the armor. He then quickly executed a spinning overhand cut and slashed deeply into the upper chest of the daemon before he trenched violently into the earth.

Twisting towards the Garzûlg, the Emperor pointed his sword at him and fired beams of golden energy at him. Dodging to the side, he managed to deflect the first two with the blade side of his axe before quickly melting to the shadows and avoiding the rest.

Spinning around swiftly, the Emperor lashed with his power claw and caught Garzûlg in neck-grip as he materialized behind in his shadow. Tossing the demon high into the air, he stabbed his sword in the ground and jumped up behind him until they were both high enough in the sky. Gripping both gauntlets into a larger fist, the Emperor swung with a portion of his strength and smashed downward at the chest of Garzûlg.

Like a projectile fired from the barrel of a weapon, Garzûlg shot off through the sky with an ear-shattering explosion left behind and the winds shrieking at the highest possible volume loudly around him as the sound barrier was broken twice in quick successions.

Careening downwards, Garzûlg landed with an earth-shattering crash as a massive crater cracked deeply in the ground in his wake. The terrain around aggressively transformed as entire sections of land were uplifted from powerful tremors and others simply collapsing into canyons as their support was completely annihilated.

The Emperor himself stood floating high in the air radiating in the purest of golden light in a halo comparable to the majestic corona of the Sol as the portion of his strength seeped into the Materium for all to witness the might of humanity. **"Nú brott í hyldýpið til hvar þú upptök frá og segja Baelzûhr hann, né þjónar hans eru vel þegin hér!"******

With his final word, the Emperor raise his power claw now wreathed of blue flame blazing to an extent only feasible inside the fiery core of an ancient class-_O_ star. The flames grew brighter as Nova Prime flashed in glaring light and began releasing energy.

Like an unbroken bridge, a great solar flare broke free from the surface of its parent sun swept through the empty coldness of the void at speeds faster than any spaceships could hope to accomplish yet slower than the flawless of light. Breaching the atmosphere of Curwen, the entire side of the planet was quickly lit up under the powerful beams of Nova Prime as it reached the Emperor.

Colliding with the gauntlet of the Emperor, the entire air around him for tens of kilometers heated under temperatures reaching unfathomed levels to exist on a planet.

With a determined cry, he cut off the flow of energy from the sun and swung his gauntlet towards the incapacitated demon and released it.

In a sky-shattering explosion, a beam of celestial blue erupted from the claws of the gauntlet and traversed the distance between both combatants faster than the blink of an eye. Like a sledgehammer, the beam struck Garzûlg with the might of a sun and seared him.

In an ear-piercing scream, Garzûlg felt every cell in his body quickly become reduced to vapor as the beam disintegrated him from existence and anything around him. In a final defiance, he roared at the Emperor of Humanity one last time before his physical body gave in to the pressure and ceased.

Cutting off the flow, the Emperor gently set himself down as he stared down at the remains of the Mordûr Demon and turned back to the wreckage. In the distance, he could see Skarbrand limping towards him as his corporeal body began started showing signs of fading as the pull from the Immaterium was becoming greater than his anchor in the Materium.

Knowing an opportunity when he can see one, he recalled his sword back and held it in the 'Ochs' position, the sword instantly bursting in a stream of flame. With a single swipe, he launched a crescent ring of golden energy at Skarbrand, whose physical body was too underpowered to avoid it and faced it head on.

The blow laid open his bronze armor and badly damaged the skin underneath as he fell once more in unbridle rage and tried to charge at him.

Keyword "tried".

To the Emperor, Skarbrand might as well been walking at him than running and decided it was now time to finish this. Augmenting his movements, he swiftly appeared before the daemon and surprised him enough to cause him swing his two battleaxes one last time at him.

Reacting faster than Skarbrand, the Emperor performed two successive strokes in a blur of light. An overhand cut decapitating his head and sending it flying in the air as the first strike finished. The second stroke came down before the body even began to realize it was missing something vital and sliced vertically the remains of the greater daemon in two pieces.

With that final stroke, the spiritual threat against Curwen had been dealt with for good. But the Emperor could still sense another threat farther away from the orbit of the planet, one that was surrounded by the screams of his people and their utmost hatred.

Curwen was still in danger, and he was determined to not let this planet fall after the sacrifices that had been made so far.

* * *

_(1): O 'Adúras. Lend strength to me! Let me carry your power. With that, I will strike our enemy with it!_

(_2_): _Come and face me spawn of chaos and darkness! You dare to enter my domain and hurt my people! Fight me if you have any honor or hide like cowards! __I am the emperor of mankind, Warden of Terra! Legionnaire of a thousand voices, a descendant of the gods and avatar anathema!_

_(3): __You think you can challenge me!? I will rip your skull out in Khorne's name!_

_(4): __Off to the abyss to where you originate from and say Baelzûhr he nor his servants are welcomed here!_

Blood Truths: _very little information exists detailing the history or purpose of this particular company of elite Bloodletters and Bloodthirsters. Many ancient scripts and stories recovered have spoken or made references of these specific blood daemons and their leader Skarbrand the Exile. What is known is that the Blood Truths always travels with their leader wherever he goes, even after being exiled they still continue following him like hounds after their alpha. It has been noted due to their apparent presence in many ancient histories, evidence points to the Blood Truths as being very ancient, possibly one of the oldest daemon groups following the Blood God. Because so little data exists of this group, the Council of High Lords has authorized extreme caution should anyone come in the vicinity with them and avoid until Daemon Hunters have properly banished them._

_**Now we shall get to the reviews!**_

**SPARTAN-626: _did you honestly expect a fight a Slaneesh daemon to not be disturbing? Master Chief with someone, I hadn't that far yet with him, it will be interesting to see what I can think of. As for Red vs Blue...maayybe? ;)_**

**MEleeSmasher: _one crossover will begin shortly soon as this story progresses while all the others will happen afterward. Check my page, I the stories in placement._**

**_In case your are wondering why Magnus did not utterly wreck the lives of his opponent or seemed weaker than usual, here's why: Magnus had been fighting in one of the most "safest" zones in the outermost edge of the Formless Waste and kept hidden by limiting the power output he was giving off. If he were to raise it to fighter harder (which he did), he would, unfortunately, attract unwanted attention to some things nearby and the higher the output, the worse they get. And the creatures you saw in the fight, thought they were scary or terrible? Let me tell you, they are simply the tip of an iceberg the size of a moon and are by far the weakest. There are things in deeper parts of the Formless Waste that could put fear in the Emperor and many of the Gods who live in the Warp and the further you in, the worse they get until words cannot literally explain just how bad they are._**

**_As for the Emperor, the reason why he did not go God-mode just in case you are wondering is simply: collateral damage. Hint: Mars used to be a flourishing world of life, right until two opponents fought each other and one of the unleashed his full might in order to defeat the other swiftly and seal him away. Think about it._**

**_This franchise will not die anytime soon so long as I am watching it. _**

**_Like and Favorite guys and by the Gods, please review and post constructive criticism. They are the fuel I use to write this at a fast pace. Plus it shows me how much you guys support me. And don't forget to continue spreading the greatness of the Emperor!_**

**_One thing I will be doing is rewriting the earlier chapters because honestly, it looks like it had been done by an amateur and not by me. So expect improved chapters in the future._**

**_If you have any direct questions, PM me and I will answer them. Till next time folks_**

**_Magnus has finally succeeded in closing the rift and Jonson in defeating the attackers. Was the attack for the Dark Eldar a complete loss or did it contain some success? What will the Emperor of Humanity do now that he wiped out the asses of two opponents? Will he wipe out another's ass? Did our favorite Agente survive the attack or not? And where the bloody hell is the Arbiter? _**

**_Find out next time on Galaxia's Wars!_**

**_Nunquam ergo te committere avertere a calcitrando asinum._**


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